BRONTIDE
by fortheloveofawerewolf
Summary: BRONTIDE the low rumble of distant thunder. Everyone has those two squad members the entire world knows are in love... the hard part is getting them to admit it first to themselves, then to each other. Katniss and Peeta are besties for life, and Peeta is convinced there's something more. AU. COMPLETE
1. Christmas Party

**I ended up deleting the two chapters before this one because I didn't like how they flowed with the rest of the story. For some background, Peeta has (obviously) been in love with Katniss for years but she has no idea. He's been acting weird for awhile so she is generally nervous around him, and Jo is doing her best to make everything as awkward as possible for all parties involved.**

 **This chapter and the next one are pretty different from the rest of the story, and honestly you can skip them and you'll still be able to follow the story. Just gives a little bit more setup for their situation.**

 **Please enjoy the story and leave me a review!**

 **Age 18**

"You're gonna look super hot, he won't stand a chance."

"Who? What are you talking about?" Katniss asked, blushing a little.

"You know who, dumbass. Peeta, your main squeeze. Besides me, of course." She winked.

"Peeta? Why would I want to impress Peeta?"

"Denial must be a very nice place to live since you're so eager to stay there." Jo smirked. Katniss opened her mouth to protest but a look from Jo silenced her.

A few minutes later, the doorbell buzzed and Haymitch let Peeta in.

"Hi, Haymitch. Merry Christmas." Katniss heard him say. She counted to 5 before heading for the door to her room.

"Hey, boy. Katniss should be out soon." Right on cue, she came around the corner.

"Hi Peeta." She suddenly felt very overdressed in eyeliner and red lipstick, at least she still had jeans on and not some stupid poofy skirt. She looked at Peeta, who'd suddenly become tongue-tied. He held his hand out to her, and she surprised herself by taking it. He pulled her closer and hugged her.

"Merry Christmas Eve, Katniss." He whispered in her ear and she gasped a little, it had been months since he'd last used her real name instead of some ridiculous pet name. She'd missed hearing it in his voice.

"Merry Christmas Eve." She echoed.

"I uh... I brought the gingerbread dough to make houses, I hope you have enough frosting for both of us plus Jo." He told her, gesturing to a bag he'd left by the door. She nodded, laughing and thinking of last year, when Jo had eaten almost all the frosting straight out of the bag.

"Yeah, I think we do. If she eats a whole bag, she forfeits her candy rights." Katniss said. Peeta agreed and then entered the kitchen.

"Jo, I'm offended that you didn't come greet me, I was stuck with Haymitch till Kat came out." And there it was again, nicknames.

"Yeah, one, I don't care, two, I didn't wanna be there while you went all jaw drop on the bird when you see how hot she looks. And babe," She said to Katniss, "You do look smokin tonight if this moron didn't tell you." Peeta rolled his eyes but his cheeks colored slightly.

"This one of the gay nights?" Katniss asked dubiously.

"You know it, my bitch!" Jo smacked a kiss onto Katniss's cheek and pinched her ass while she left the room. Katniss sighed heavily and plopped onto a chair.

"What are we gonna do with her."

"Ignore her and hope she goes away?" Peeta suggested, sitting next to her.

"I don't hope she goes away, just that she'd find someone that likes her that way too. Then maybe she'd stop hitting on us." She laughed slightly. "No wait, it's Jo. She'd do it just to annoy us huh."

"Yeah, she needs someone who will put up with her shenanigans. Too bad Haymitch is old." He laughed. Katniss gagged.

"I'd hate to watch that romance play out." They both laughed and started working on their houses.

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During the Pictionary game, Peeta sat uncharacteristically close to Katniss. In a way, she didn't mind, as he had been exceedingly sweet to her all that night. But on the other hand, there was so much potential for something to go horribly horribly wrong, like if she turned her head and accidentally kissed him?

"I'm gonna draw the next one, right?" He asked her quietly, gently caressing her hands which rested in his. She nodded, turning her head and leaning away just a tiny bit to look into his eyes, which were oddly hazy tonight, looking nearly green.

"Yeah, and thanks to you, we'll win the game." She told him, and he grinned, squeezing her close to him and tucking her into his shoulder.

"Your hair smells good, did you get new shampoo?" He asked her, leaning down to inhale the scent.

"Yeah, you like it? It's supposed to smell like an ocean breeze but apparently our oceans aren't top quality because I've never smelled a beach that smelled like this." She joked, and he laughed enthusiastically.

"I'm thirsty, I'm gonna go get us some more eggnog, okay love?" He told her suddenly. She nodded. He brushed her hair off her face and rose off the love seat they'd ended up on.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Johanna and Haymitch burst out into laughter. Katniss scowled.

"What?"

"Him, he's so..." Haymitch struggled for words.

"Affectionate!" Jo finished. "Like he wants to inhale you and kiss you to death and put you on a chaise lounge and stare longingly at you for all eternity." She managed between her laughs. Katniss rolled her eyes.

"What did you do, Jo?"

"I-Isp- I spiked his eggnog!" She sputtered joyfully. "He's had like four mugs of it and he's sooooooooo tipsy!" She crowed while Katniss jumped up.

"You what?" She exclaimed. Haymitch grinned.

"Sweetheart, think about how moody he is nowadays and how cheerful he is now. Although it sickens me to watch him, I have to say it's an improvement and I know you agree." Katniss sat down, thinking.

Yes, she had to agree that this was much more like the Peeta she'd grown up with. She'd missed him.

Peeta came back into the room, grinning widely, and Katniss grinned back, deciding to enjoy her friend as long as he was like this.

Jo arched an eyebrow as Katniss seemed to encourage the affections of their off-kilter friend. Katniss pointedly ignored her.

"Hi guys!" Prim squealed as she came in the door, laden with gift bags.

"Hey, Primmy, what's good lil friend?" Jo held her arm out and Prim hugged her.

"I just got back from Rue's, look what she gave me!" Prim pulled out a long red scarf with huge white pom poms on the end.

"Eyy, just in time for the firework show."

"Yep! I'm gonna go make a list of what came from who, I'll be back soon!" Prim scooped up her bags again and darted into her room. Mrs. Everdeen smiled indulgently after her, then followed to her own room after greeting Haymitch and Peeta.

"Okay, let's finish this up, I'm bored." Jo complained, and Peeta rolled his eyes before groaning a little.

"What?"

"I'm sorta... getting a headache, sweet pea, that's all." He told her, drinking more of his eggnog. Katniss didn't stop him.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Do you like it?" Katniss asked, hopefully.

"Of course I do, it's delicious." He assured her.

"Hey Peeta, can you help me to hang this up over my window?" Prim interjected, coming into the room with a giant gold star in her hands.

"Yeah, sure Prim." He set down his mug and followed her out.

"He won't be able to hang anything, he's so tipsy." Jo snorted from her chair, holding her Vixen the reindeer mug.

"And whose fault is that." Katniss retorted.

"It's mine, all mine, I take full blame." Jo laughed into her hot chocolate. Haymitch cleared his throat.

"This is a one-time thing, Johanna, it's funny now, but don't mess him up, got it?" He ordered her, and Jo waved him off.

"Yeah, he wouldn't fall for it again anyway, don't worry."

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As she was clearing away the last of the dishes from the living room, Peeta surprised her by wrapping his arms around her from behind and pressing his cheek to hers.

"Oh! Hi, Peeta, I thought everyone had gone to watch the fireworks." She exclaimed.

"I stayed back, I know you don't like them." He told her. She smiled.

"No, I don't like them. Thank you for staying." Even from the inside, the explosions scared her and brought back memories she didn't want to relive. Peeta was a welcome distraction.

"But you can't let these pretty little hands do all this work alone tonight," he took the dishes from her hands placing them carefully in the sink. "Let's relax while they're gone." He suggested, leading her back through the doorway to the living room. He paused under the arch, looking up.

"Oh dear, looks like we're under the mistletoe..." he smiled, trailing off, then looking down intently at her lips. Katniss's heart started beating in her chest as she realized her best friend was about to kiss her.

"But," he sighed, "we wouldn't want to mess up that pretty lipstick, do we?" He leaned down to kiss her cheekbone instead, his warm breath burning her skin as his lips didn't leave her face right away. His hand came up to touch her hair and brush his fingers along her jawline. She was suddenly cursing the glittery red lipstick Jo had insisted upon, but then quickly wondered why she WANTED Peeta to kiss her in the first place. She shook the thought off.

She ducked under his arm to go to the couch. He sat beside her and helping her put away all the pencils and paper pads littering the game table.

Peeta mentally berated himself.

'Shit shit shit shit shit

I fucked up I really fucked up. I should never have kissed her. what was I thinking?'

When the first firework hit the sky at 12, midnight, Katniss shrieked and jumped into his arms, fighting off tears.

"Shh, shh Katniss, it's okay. It's okay, I'm here with you, I'll keep you safe." He whispered over and over in her ear while sobs wracked her body. After a few more sniffles, she sat up a little, wiping her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting them to start so soon." She apologized. Peeta smiled and shook his head.

"I don't mind, Katniss." He hooked his arm behind her knees and one behind her shoulders to pick her up, bringing her into the bathroom.

Gently, he helped her wash off her ruined makeup and take her long hair out of its intricate braid. She still jumped at every explosion, but they didn't scare her nearly as bad as the first had.

When her face was clean and her hair down, she held her arms out to him and he smiled, carrying her to her room.

"Do you want to put on your pjs?" He asked softly. She nodded, asking him to turn around while she did so. When she finished, yawning and feeling her eyelids succumb to the drowsiness that encompassed her, she reached out to him again, begging him to stay with her.

"I can stay till you fall asleep, honey, but I don't think I'm allowed to stay the whole night." He said sorrowfully. "Besides, I think someone must've put something in my drink tonight, because everything is a bit fuzzy. I'm guessing I'll feel like shit tomorrow." He grimaced foggily. She agreed with him.

"Stay for a while then, please?" She asked, and he acquiesced, kicking off his shoes and slacks and sliding into the narrow bed beside her.

"Katniss, I..." he trailed off.

"Hm?" She murmured.

"Never mind." He told her, snuggling her close to him and holding her tight as each bang hit their ears.

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Mrs. Everdeen found them that way when she returned later that night with Prim. She took note of Katniss's intimate position, her back pressed against Peeta's front. Katniss was already asleep, but Peeta would have to go home, she didn't want something like this to become normal or acceptable. As gently as she could, she woke Peeta.

"Hm?" He groaned, his voice heavy with sleep and his system drugged.

"Peeta, I think you need to go home, your family will be worried about you." She told him. His eyes grew wide as he realized who was talking.

"Mrs. Everdeen!" He hiss-whispered. "I-I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep, I just was helping Kat sleep with the fireworks and all-" he explained, carefully detangling himself from Katniss's limbs. The slight slur of his words coupled with his broad, imprecise movements clued Mrs. Everdeen in.

"Peeta... are you drunk?"

"I-I think I am, I swear I didn't mean to drink, I don't know what happened, I'm blaming Haymitch or Jo, one of them must've put something in my drink. I swear, I didn't touch her though, I swear." He couldn't look at her as he hurriedly tried to excuse himself, realizing he didn't have pants on and not really wanting to get out of the bed in his boxers.

"Alright, Peeta, I believe you. But I don't want this," she gestured to the bed, "to be a regular thing, alright?" He nodded and she left the room.

Peeta sighed, leaning his head, which had started to throb painfully, on his hands. Sliding carefully out of bed, he pulled on his pants and grabbed his shoes, painfully aware of the semi-hard-on he had from holding Katniss. He adjusted himself and tiptoed out of the room, tearing his gaze from the girl of his dreams and closing the door behind himself.

Tying his shoes in the living room, Peeta tried to remember what had happened that evening, much of his memory being clouded from the alcohol. He'd just spent one of the nicest Christmases he'd had in years and now he couldn't remember it. Mentally cursing Jo and/or Haymitch, he stumbled out the door and down the hall to his own apartment, tripping on his way in and falling asleep on the couch where he fell.


	2. Katniss's Birthday

**Here's where we really start getting into the plot, I hope you all enjoy!**

 **Age 20**

It was Katniss's birthday, and she hadn't heard a word from Peeta. Normally, she would get a message at 12:01 am saying happy birthday, and then another closer to the time she woke up telling her to have a good morning and letting her know what he had planned for her. She always told him not to do anything special, not to go out of his way but he grinned, rolled his eyes and told her to suck it up.

Today, he didn't do any of that, and she didn't know quite how much it had meant to her until now, when she didn't have it.

When she heard the doorbell, she jumped up from her plain, untoasted, unbuttered bagel that she'd pulled listlessly out of the bag.

"Package for K Everdeen."

"Oh, uh.. that's me."

"Please sign here." She signed for the mysterious package and took the tall, oddly light box.

"What the-" she cut open the tape, her energy draining again since it wasn't Peeta at the door. Inside was a large, leafy plant with a note attached. She grinned, untying it from the plant's trunk.

"Dear Kat, happy birthday from your favorite sister, Prim." Katniss's face fell. She loved her sister but...

"Stupid boys." She grumbled, dropping the card back into the box.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Peeta!" Katniss shrieked as Peeta let himself in. She jumped up and hugged him. He squeezed her tight but let go far too soon.

"Woah there, honey." He laughed distantly. She frowned as he practically shoved a wrapped box into her hands and passed her on his way to the kitchen. "Happy birthday, let's watch a movie." He popped open a beer can and settled himself on the couch, queuing up something on Netflix. She sighed and settled in next to him, resting her head on his shoulder. He let her keep it there.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

At the end of the movie, Peeta yawned and stretched, and Katniss had to sit up off his shoulder so she wouldn't fall. This wasn't unusual behavior for his current mood. She hated this mood on Peeta, it was distant and bordering on unfriendly.

"Are we okay, Peeta? I mean... I don't remember there being anything different happening but-" she stopped, immediately wishing she hadn't brought it up.

"You haven't done anything, sweet pea." He told her. She scowled.

"My name is Katniss. I'd like it if you called me that. I can tell something's wrong, Peeta. You're hiding something from me." Peeta ducked his head, frowning.

"You're right. I've been hiding something very important from you for quite a while now." Her eyebrows raised. She knew he was, but she didn't expect him to come clean so easily.

"Love..." he began. "I don't lie to people. You know that."

"Yeah, I do." She frowned. She hated all the pet names he used for her, it's not like her name was all that hard. But at least 'love' was not as bad as the rest of them. She almost like 'love.' Almost.

"But more than that, I don't want to just not lie to you, I don't want to hide things. I want to be fully honest with you." Katniss frowned. Peeta held on to her hand tightly lest she get up and run.

"I haven't been quite honest with you for about 4 years now. Don't-" he caught her hurt glance. "Don't be mad at me please-"

"Why did you feel like you had to hide things from me?" She asked softly, and he could hear the hurt in her voice.

"It's not... well, I'll save you the 'it's not' reasons and just tell you why. Please..." he trailed off, looking deeply into her eyes with that one kind of look that she always hated to see there, it kind of scared her to be on the receiving end but she didn't know why. "Please promise me you won't run away, please hear me out." He begged her.

"I can't promise you that-" He nodded.

"I'm going to be honest with you but don't feel like you need to respond now, and if it's too much then tell me to stop, okay?" She nodded. He took a deep breath.

"To start with, I love you, I've been in love with you for years. Probably longer than I've admitted it to myself." He paused, watching for her reaction.

"You're what?" She whispered.

He continued.

"It started, well, I realized it about 4 and a half years ago. I didn't want to think I was falling for my best friend." He pinched the bridge of his nose remembering how lost he was at the time. "I didn't want to complicate our friendship, and I didn't want to talk to anyone about it because that would make it real..." he trailed off, giving her that look again before closing his eyes and mumbling an apology.

"Anyway. In my attempts to see you as just my best friend again, I started noticing you more, REALLY noticing you for the first time. Realizing you'd grown up from my little tomboy into something beautiful and spirited. I couldn't keep my eyes off you, really. I decided falling for you wouldn't be bad at all, what an idiot, huh? That was when I stopped using your name, even though I know you hate it." He smiled, letting her retort this time.

"Yes, I do hate it, why did you start doing that?"

"Because I knew if I said your name, the way I say your name, it would scare you and I couldn't let that happen. I can tell sometimes even the way I look at you scares you. That was the first thing I hid from you, and I'm sorry." She was confused.

"I know what you mean when you say how you look at me," she shuddered a tiny bit. "But why would using my name scare me? Other people use it all the time."

"How I say it, I say it... differently than I used to and you'd pick up on that. You can ask Fin about it, I can't explain it but he did a good job when he told me. He was the first person to talk to me about you I think. At least that I remember. I used to get, actually I still do get such a rush when people mistake us for a couple." He smiled at his foolishness.

"Wait a second. First? Just how many people have talked to you about me?" He blushed, sinking down into the back of the couch a little.

"I was apparently extremely obvious, everyone knew. Except you, I guess, thankfully. So first Fin brought it up to me, mostly to tease me I think, but we ended up talking seriously. Then my dad talked to me for like an hour about 'when a man loves a woman,'" he blushed up to his hairline, rolling his eyes, and Katniss laughed, although a blush came to her cheeks as well. She'd never seen Peeta blush so much, and it was a different, more real, vulnerable side to his usual carefree demeanor and she had to admit she liked it. He'd lost that vulnerability when they entered the hostile middle school environment due to incessant torment over it.

"And then of course Jo had to tease the living crap out of me for several hours after she caught me watching you, yeah sorry, I tend to do that frequently I guess." She scrunched up her nose.

"I know, that I have noticed." Peeta gave her another apologetic glance.

"Anyway, Jo was far worse than my dad. I'm embarrassed just recalling the event." Katniss laughed again and Peeta looked at her questioningly.

"It's just- It's just that you're usually the last person to blush or get embarrassed about stuff, it's... its kind of cute when you get all pink." She explained through her giggles. He smiled, his cheeks coloring again.

"Cute?" He repeated. She grinned at him pinching his right cheek with the dimple that always made her smile even in the worst circumstances.

"Yeah, it reminds me of when we were kids, back when you were more likely to blush out of the two of us. You always had this dimple here, too. It went away for awhile, I think mostly because you did the cool-guy smirk instead of really smiling." She told him. He chuckled too.

"I got that from Fin, I think. I don't think it ever worked on you though, it was supposed to make the ladies swoon or something." Katniss suddenly had another burst of laughter.

"It did make 'the ladies' swoon, just not the lady you wanted to swoon. Actually, I've always liked your real smile better."

"Then I'll quit with the stupid smirk," he resolved, giving her a full-blown Peeta grin like he used to right before they would get in trouble for something. A little piece of her heart melted and she found herself grinning back, before sidling up to him and getting comfortable against his side like she used to. He sighed, holding her close.

"Full disclosure, I'll probably still use dumb pet names sometimes because I've done so for so long it's become automatic."

"And I'll correct you so that you'll eventually stop." She warns, and he nods.

"I wouldn't have it any other way. So anyway, where was I?"

"Johanna's big boy talk." She taunted and he blushed deeply again, making Katniss smile.

"I never want to endure that again, please rescue me if you get wind of it happening, it was awful."

"What did she say that could possibly be so bad?" Katniss asked. A shudder ran through Peeta as he remembered it.

"I... don't really want to tell you... not now anyway. You're better off not knowing, to be honest." Katniss looked a little annoyed but let him drop it, resolving to ask Johanna later, although in the back of her mind she knew that was a terrible idea.

"After Jo, I got the oddest lecture from Prim, at the Christmas party, about not scaring you off, which is when and why I became really proactive about not letting you know how I felt, and really I'm so sorry I did that." He thought for a second. "But I don't know that I wouldn't do it again, based on what Prim was telling me. And not even for entirely selfish reasons, although that did play a role of course."

"What did Prim say?"

"She started off by telling me she knew I cared for you more than as my best friend, I'd slipped several times that night mostly due to Jo spiking my eggnog." Katniss nodded, remembering that night vividly.

"At any rate, I kept slipping and every time I did I would pray fervently that you didn't catch it, and apparently you didn't, but Prim did. So after she didn't buy my excuses and denials, she told me that I had to be VERY careful how I acted around you. If I showed too much, you'd figure it out and be uncomfortable around me, and if I showed nothing, you'd think I was mad at you. So I had to work to be as 'normal,' as much like I'd been growing up, as I could." Katniss was frowning but didn't deny what Peeta said, probably realizing that he spoke the truth, and of course Prim would know that.

"I remember the Christmas party. You were a little bit more... affectionate than usual but I figured it was due to an overdose of Christmas spirit. And then later I found out what Jo did, which made a lot more sense. Especially when you kissed me." Peeta's eyes flew wide open.

"I kissed you?! How much eggnog did I drink, why do I not remember-Sweetheart, I'm so sorry-" he trailed off burying his face in his hands as Katniss rolled her eyes.

"Peeta, you kissed me here." She touched her cheekbone, right below her eye. "And my name is Katniss. Haymitch calls me Sweetheart so if you could refrain from that pet name in particular I would be grateful."

Peeta smiled wanly.

"I'm sorry. Thank God I didn't kiss your lips, I wouldn't want to forget that and I honestly have no recollection of kissing your face at all." Katniss thought for a moment.

"I didn't mind, you can kiss me there if you like." She said softly, and Peeta had to check her face to make sure she was serious. She was, so he leaned down and brushed a kiss to her cheekbone, lingering possibly a tiny bit too long before pulling back.

"What was my excuse that night?" He asked, his voice soft.

"We were under the mistletoe, and you said something like 'wouldn't want to mess up that pretty lipstick you're wearing,' so you kissed my cheek instead." He shook his head grimacing at his drunk self's behavior.

"Were you even wearing lipstick?" He pondered. She shrugged.

"I don't remember, I think I might have, or maybe lip gloss. That wasn't really on my list of priorities that night."

"Do you recall anything else I did that I should be embarrassed about?" Katniss smiled widely.

"I don't think it's something to be embarrassed about, it was actually really amusing at the time, to all parties involved. You insisted on being my partner for every game we played, even Pictionary despite knowing I SUCK at it. I pretty sure you would have fought off anybody with the turkey carving knife if they challenged you further, but I guess everyone knew that you... how you felt about me by then so they just indulged you." Peeta groaned.

"I can never get drunk again, or I'll make a complete and utter jackass of myself. I can't believe Jo would do that to me after she knew what would happen..." he considered his words. "Actually that makes perfect sense, it's Jo we're talking about." To which Katniss agreed wholeheartedly.

"And then when we were eating dessert, you said something, I can't quite remember how you phrased it, but I'm pretty sure I blushed clear down to my toes." She admitted. Peeta was shocked at himself.

"I am so sorry, I have a feeling I know what I said and that was completely over the line, I should keep those thoughts to mysel-" he began sincerely, but she hurriedly cut him off.

"No! No, nothing like that, you would never do that, sober or drunk. No, I'm sorry. I meant it was such a sweet, romantic thing to say that I had to blush. Nothing crass, I'm sorry I should have clarified. Wait, those thoughts? What did you think you said?" Peeta dropped his head back on the sofa.

"I need to learn when to shut the fuck up. I-" He pulled his head back up to glance in her face, finding only confusion there. "I don't think you want me to say."

"Did I tell you to stop?" She challenged. He raised his eyebrows. He could get her to say stop in two or three sentences if he wanted.

"We had chocolate cake for dessert? I would tell you how I'm sure you taste far better than anything from a bakery, even chocolate. My guess is you taste like your beloved woods, musky and sweet, and should I ever get the opportunity to have you for dessert, well, I would make sure it's one you'd never forget. I'd start down-"

"Stop." She silenced him. "You were trying to get me to say stop, weren't you." She accused. He dropped his gaze. "You don't need to tell me anything, but don't hold back something because you think it'll make me uncomfortable, I'll tell you when to stop." He nodded.

"I'm a moron, I know it."

"You know, there's nothing wrong with drunk Peeta, I actually quite enjoyed him." Peeta raised his blond brows.

"Really? Huh, I would have thought he'd make you uncomfortable."

"No, you are a surprisingly respectful drunk man talking to the girl he... cares for." He smiled hearing the admiration in her voice. Thankful that he hadn't creeped her out by now, he asked about anything else he'd done.

"You did call me Katniss, several times. And I hadn't heard that from you for a while so I liked it." She confessed.

"I didn't realize you were so particular about what I call you, I mean I knew you weren't fond of the pet names, but still. I call you Kat every now and then, don't I?"

She shrugged.

"From anybody else, I don't care so much. But... I don't know... maybe... I like the way you say it..." She trailed off, looking up at him with those big grey eyes. His breath caught in his throat.

"Katniss-" he breathed reflexively, not even realizing he'd used her name for the first time in years.

"Yeah, I like it when you say it like that." She told him, laying her head down on his chest and wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Was Prim the last person to give you a hard time about me?"

"Oh no, not by a long shot. I've gotten two more lectures from Fin after apparently saying your name in my sleep, a warning from your mother about not flirting with you so much, which I wasn't even aware I did, and five or six taunts from Haymitch after dinners at your house. I'm completely transparent." He ended, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, I didn't know you flirted with me either. I just thought you were a naturally flirtatious person I guess." She shrugged. "So what now?" She asked after a long silence.

"I don't know, it's up to you." He told her. She sat up suddenly.

"No, you don't get to make this my decision, that's not fair to you. After all you've put yourself through." He looked a little surprised.

"So... you wanna talk about it then?" She leaned back against the sofa.

"I didn't realize you acted like that because the drink took your filters down. I didn't realize that was you." She started. "I wish you would be like that all the time, you seemed so... happy and I missed seeing my best friend like that." She told him. He grinned up at her, again fixing his huge blue orbs on her grey ones, that adorable, deep dimple making another appearance. She leaned forward to kiss his curls, and his cheeks donned the becoming pinky shade that she loved. "I can't tell you that I'm in love with you, though." He frowned.

"You do love me, I know that." He objected.

"I don't think I do, I don't think of you... that way, Peeta." He looked hurt.

"Yes you do, I know you do. I've caught you looking at me the same way I look at you. It's real, Katniss. You and me." He insisted, his cheeks glowing with zeal.

"I think you're wrong, I'm sorry." She whispered back, standing quickly and grabbing his empty beer can and hurrying into the kitchen to get away from those earnest, deep blue eyes.

"You're running, Katniss." There, he'd said her name again. A thrill shot up her spine but she ignored it. She waited in the kitchen for a few minutes. She ran, he would follow. That's how it went.

"I'm gonna get going, sweet pea." Her heart sank as she recognized the distant voice from earlier. She'd hurt him again, made him hide the truth from her.

"Okay." She responded. He gave her a crooked half-smile, she missed his dimple, and kissed under her eye one last time before leaving the room, and she heard the door latch click as he closed it behind himself.

Later that night, Jo called.

"Katpiss you blazing fuck-up, what's the matter with you ya moron?" She greeted as soon as Katniss picked up.

"What are you talking about, Jo?" She growled back.

"You know bloody well what I'm talking about, I just saw your man-candy in my bar with a pretty hefty swig of something in front of him. Looks like he watched someone murder his cat. What the fuck did you do?"

"I-he came over for my birthday, to watch a movie, and I asked him why he's been so moody lately and he told me all about how he -" Katniss chokes a little and tries again. "How he lo-loves me."

"And?"

"And then he left."

"What did you say to him." Jo pressed, taking a drink of something.

"I said... I don't think of him like tha-" The sound of a beverage being spit out cut off the last part of Katniss's sentence. When the sputtering stopped, she barely heard Jo's voice.

"You told him... what?"

"I don't-" She started again but Jo cut her off.

"I'm giving you a chance to rephrase, restate, re something so you don't sound like a colossal bitch that I need to beat the shit out of. How could you fucking lie to that poor kid, do you KNOW how long he's had blue balls for you? Years, you shithead, years!"

"I didn't lie to him, I know how I think about him and it's not like that, he's just my best friend, Jo!"

"You fucking lied to him, to me, and it's because you're lying to yourself. I'm gonna go and rescue his ass before some deserving piece of bitch snatches him up while he's too drunk and upset to think it through. I have nothing more to say to you, young lady." Jo hung up. Katniss refused to cry.


	3. Thanksgiving Break: Sunday

It was about a month after, during Thanksgiving break, that Katniss could finally look Peeta in the eye again. She still felt terrible, but whatever Jo told him seemed to help him get out of the distant funk he'd been in.

All her friends were boarding planes to go home, Fin and Annie together, Jo to an exotic resort in Mexico, Peeta back to their hometown to visit his brothers. Katniss didn't have the funds to leave the campus, though. She elected to stay in their apartment. She drove them all to the airport on Sunday afternoon, watching as one by one, they disappeared through the lines at security. Peeta was last.

"Have a nice holiday with your brothers, Peeta." She said into his shoulder as he hugged her one last time.

"Bye, Kat." He said back. She sighed heavily.

"I'll miss you. I..." She stopped. "I miss you now, the old you... the one who used to care about me." Peeta closed his eyes and pulled her back in again, squeezing her tight. She felt him kiss the top of her head as he let go, waving as he went past the sign saying "boarding passes required past this point." He continued through security, looking back once before she couldn't see him again. She went back to their apartment.

Since she had it empty, Katniss saw no reason to get dressed, taking a nice long soak in the tub and scrubbing herself down with that sugary scrub she'd seen preached about online. It did indeed work very well, she felt her soft skin frequently as she was dressing back into her shorts and settled into bed with her laptop playing Friends reruns.

Not long after, she drifted off and the light filtering through her window faded.

Was that a car? Why did the sound abruptly stop like the person turned the car off? Weren't all the dorm apartments empty by now? Katniss woke up to the sound of an engine. She thought she was the only one staying through the holiday.

Katniss steeled herself and tried to center her nerves enough to react calmly to the noise outside. She got up, pulled on a tank top she nearly tripped over on the floor, and started toward the door.

It opened suddenly and Katniss squeaked almost inaudibly as she ran into Peeta's chest. She was suddenly conscious of her scantily clad bust.

"I-I thought everyone was headed home for Thanksgiving." She panted. She's seen them all off through security at the airport, right?

"They are, but I missed my flight, I uh... I got stuck in security." He explained. He pulled her into his arms, hugging her firmly. "But now I get to spend Thanksgiving with you, we have the place allllll to ourselves with no Jo to run around naked and cursing and no Finnick to make everyone extremely uncomfortable!" She smiled.

"Yep, just you and me." She thought over all of the reasons why this was an incredibly bad idea, but found she didn't actually think they were bad. In fact, she was just glad Peeta was back to his normal self.

"I'm gonna hit the hay. I'm beat." Peeta stretched his arms above his head, shoving his suitcase out of the way with his foot.

"Yeah, me too."

They parted ways with a sleepy goodnight, and she soon was undressing for bed. She tossed her sleep top and shorts onto the counter along with a pair of thick socks, because no matter how warm it was, her feet would always be cold. She dropped her bra into the hamper and grabbed her top to put on, cursing soundly when she saw a large wet spot on the back.

"What-why does this happen?" She groaned quietly. Tossing it into the hamper as well and resolving for the hundredth time to be better about drying off the counter after brushing her teeth, she huffed into her thankfully dry shorts and socks and stepped back into her room.

Curling herself under the blankets and around a pillow, she let the damp heat and sounds of rain drown her thoughts out.

xxxxxxxxxxx

"FUCKING SHIT PEETA! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" After feeling a hand on her shoulder, Katniss sat up abruptly, unthinking of her bare chest.

"I uh-" Peeta started, clearing his throat. "I remember how scared you were of lightening as a kid, you know, because of your- so I came in to see if you were okay."

Katniss pressed a hand to her heart, them remembering she was topless.

"Oh crap-" she murmured, drawing the blanket up.

"It's okay, Katniss, it's dark, I can't really see anything." He assured her. She shook her head.

"My shirt got all wet and it's the only one I ha-"

"It's okay," he cut her off, "you don't need to give me a reason, this is your room." She nodded. "I did knock, but you must've not heard me over the thunder, which brings us back to are you doing okay?" He asked again. She nodded again slowly, but a particularly loud crack made both of them jump, her straight into his arms.

"Okay, maybe I could use some company." She whispered nervously. He chuckled, the sound making his chest vibrate. She was too distracted to notice his was bare as well. He sat down on the edge of her bed as she scooted to the other side. She patted the space beside her.

"Lay down, I don't know how long the storm is going to last." He cleared his throat again and shifted to lay beside her. She crawled closer, wrapping her arms around him. He did the same, rubbing his hand up and down her back to soothe her.

"You know, the last time I did this with you, your mom found us in the middle of the night and kicked me out," he joked. She laughed a little.

"I remember. I'm glad you lived in the same building, you also happened to be drunk that night and driving would have been a bad idea." Peeta laughed at the memory.

"I woke up with an awful hangover. I still have to get Jo back for that..."

She laughed with him once more before they fell quiet, and soon dropped off to sleep.

She woke up to the sound of birds chirping, and the soft and steady light through the gauzy curtains. Feeling warm and comfortable, she fought against her alertness, leaning back into the presence behind her back. Then she felt it breathing, and quickly scrambled away, making the other person chuckle.

"It's just me, Katniss. Good morning." Her heart started to steady, and she relaxed her tense posture.

"Morning, Peeta, care to explain why you're half naked in my bed?"

"Thunderstorm last night, and I always sleep topless, you know that." He informed her briefly. He seemed to be keeping his eyes on her face more than normal, and then she remembered her own bare chest. With a little gasp, she lay down again and pulled the sheets up under her armpits. He laughed again, though it sounded a bit strained, and went to get up, stretching his arms above his head with his back to her. She felt her heartbeat accelerating again but made no sound.

"What do you want for breakfast? I'll make us some while you shower." He inquired, turning back to face her again.

"Do we even have any of the ingredients you'd need?"

"I'm not sure, I can look around."

"Because I'm pretty sure we're out of maple syrup, so pancakes, French toast and waffles are out," She continued, sitting up a little and pressing the blanket to her chest.

"So that leaves eggs, toast, whatever kind of bread..."

"Do we have cheese? Can you make cheese buns?"

She crawled forward towards her dresser, bringing the blanket as far as she could to rummage around for a shirt. "Yeah, probably," He answered vacantly, "And I - of - but then I'll need... Katniss, please." He groaned, laughing exasperatedly. "It's honestly way more distracting to have you partially covered and crawling around than if you just were topless on your back."

"Peeta!" She practically squeaked, diving under the blanket completely, scowling at his chuckle even though he couldn't see it.

"Katniss, it's okay, I'm not going to attack you and fuck you on this bed if I see your boobs." She poked her head out of the blanket, blushing furiously. "I can't say I don't want to, but I won't."

"I-" She started, but then just twisted the blanket around to her back and wrapped herself in it like that instead.

"See? Okay, breakfast."

"Right. Okay. Toast and eggs then?"

He nodded, coming over to wrap her - blanket and all - in his arms.

"Shower and come eat your breakfast, okay?" She nodded, leaning into him before he pulled away and kissed her hair.


	4. Thanksgiving Break: Monday

**I'm going to be updating this story and a couple of my other ones as often as possible, I'm leaving for school in two months and I want to get them finished by then, we'll see how that goes... enjoy this chapter, please drop a review!**

MONDAY

"Hey, Katniss, hurry up, what are you even doing in there?" Peeta knocked on the bathroom door.

"Shaving my legs, leave me alone." She yelled back.

"Ah, must keep them silky smooth at all times." He joked. Katniss scoffed, then thought for a second.

"Wait, did you just flirt at me?" She stopped what she was doing and stared at the door, practically able see his smirk through the wood.

"Have been for the past 5 years but thanks for noticing." Her scowl came back to her face.

"Well, stop it." She ordered.

"You said you liked how I was at the Christmas party, you liked when I was happy." He reasoned.

"But I don't like you randomly complimenting me very seductively, it makes me uneasy."

"But that's the fun part!" He shoots back. Katniss rolled her eyes. "Katniss," he began, seriously. "I wish you would let loose a little too."

"I don't let loose, when I let loose, bad things happen."

"Something good would happen if you let yourself go this week."

"What good would come?" She asked, opening the door to face him.

"You and me, it would be better than good."

"I told you-" she began again.

"Bullshit. I don't believe you. Listen, we have 6 days left before the crew get back, that's today, tomorrow, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Give me 6 days to convince you that you're in love with me. If I fail, I'll stop flirting with you." He vows.

"You-"

"If that's what you want at the end of 6 days. I will be just your friend again. I'll stop trying."

"You promise? 6 days?"

"I promise. Saturday midnight." He promised, and she shook his hand. He didn't let her take it back, instead his face breaking into a giant grin and he started singing off-key.

"You know you love me! You wanna kiss me! You wanna hug me!" He stopped, with his dimpled smile on his lips. He walked over and leaned in close, Katniss found herself unable to suck in a breath.

Peeta brought his hand up to her face and squirted shaving foam onto her nose making her squeal.

"I hate you!"

"I know you do." He said with that smile that could get away with just about anything.

"I'll get you back, don't worry. When you least expect it, too." Katniss grinned, wiping her nose off on Peeta'a tshirt. He smiled back.

"You do that, sugah, I'll be waiting." He disappeared inside the bathroom and she went back to her own to finish getting ready for the day.

Then an idea struck her. She opened the window on the side just around the corner from the door outside, then hurriedly went out. She screwed the hose onto the faucet and started the water running. Then, she made it look like she'd knocked over one of the plants, careful to not damage the roots. She heard Peeta open the bathroom door.

"Peeta?" She called, holding the hose out of sight.

"What is it, Katniss? Are you about to sneak attack me?" He teased.

"No, be serious for a sec. I knocked this thing over with the hose when I was trying to water it."

"You water the plants?" She shrugs.

"It's really hot and dry for this time of year, I figured it couldn't hurt. Well."

"Yeah, sure, I'll be right there." He left the window, and a minute later Katniss heard him leave the apartment. When he came around the corner, she readied herself.

"See that one - Don't you point that hose at me, don't you fucking dare-" she threatened, noticing the other hose in Peeta's hand, kinked tightly in his fist to hold off the water.

"Well, now we have a stand off. Who will shoot first? Or will both lower their weapons? We shall see, we shall see." He narrated enthusiastically. Then, in one lightning movement, Katniss jumped forward and stomped on the hanging part of his hose, jerking it out of his hand. But he had years of reflex work on the wrestling team and quickly had her hose out of her hand as well, so once again each was armed.

"Why?" She groaned. "Bite me!"

"Where?" Peeta smirked. She let out a tiny squeak and sprayed him, making him yelp and turn his hose on her.

"Don't say things like that!" She demanded while blocking his spray with her arm.

"I'm allowed to! You shook hands!"

"Not cool, Mellark!"

"Does that make it hot?" He smirked again. She let out a frustrated growl and dropped her hose to leap on him.

"You are so annoying!" She screeched.

"That's why you love me!"

"I barely LIKE you!" She exclaimed, batting at his hands.

"So you do like me?" He concluded, making her growl again to his amusement. She dodged his grasp and ducked under his arm to jump on his back, latching on.

"Okay, you asked for it!" Peeta hollers and starts running with her attached. She jolts up and down but can't let go.

"P-Peeta-" she squeaks and he slows the tiniest bit. "St-stop!" But he doesn't, just grabs behind him for her upper thighs to keep her on.

"Nope! Next stop isn't for a mile."

xxxxxxxxxxxx

"Katniss... are you okay?" Peeta grinned at her. Katniss had tears streaming down her face and was sniffling beyond control.

"Shut up."

"Well, I only ask because my hand is numb." He held up their joined hands, and she noticed she'd been squeezing his tightly.

"Sorry!" She let go.

"It's okay, I don't mind, my little cheese puff." He wrapped his arm around her and drew her close. She liked it. He loved it.

"Wanna watch another movie?" He suggested in a whisper. She nodded. He leaned forward and queued up the next on their list.

"Katniss, it says it's low on battery." She got up to rummage around the room for her charger, mumbling curses as she searched. Finally, she found it just as the last warning popped up. She plugged one end into the charging port.

Katniss fumbled with the cord, trying to get it untangled to plug it into the wall before her computer died.

"Oh fuck me." She muttered as the screen went black.

Peeta smirked and leaned closer.

"That wasn't an invitation!" She said hastily, leaning back as Peeta got closer and closer.

"What would you do if I kissed you?" He asked.

"Um..."

"Would you kiss me back?"

"Ummmm..."

"Would you slap my face?"

"No?"

"Do you want me to kiss you?"

"Don't ask me that-"

"Do you want to kiss me?"

"Shut up!"

"Make me."

Katniss was panting and Peeta's lips were inches away. She put her hands on his shoulders and shoved him back onto the couch, climbing over the arm to mount him.

"Stop it, Peeta."

"Why. Am I making you feel something? Are you scared I'm right?"

She leaned down and angled her lips over his, letting her breath brush his face. His cheeks got pink.

"You've always made me feel something. Usually it's irritation." Peeta rolled his eyes.

"Not what I was asking."

"Don't care." The tension between them was simmering, and Katniss made the mistake of moving her hips, which were situated right over his crotch. Peeta moaned and his eyes slammed shut as he tried to control himself.

"Peeta?"

"Kiss me." He demanded. "Kiss me now." He nearly growled, looking up at her suddenly, making her jump.

"Peeta, I-"

"Kiss me."

"Friends don't kiss each other."

"We're more than friends, Katniss," he drew out her name like the caress of a lover, and she shivered. "We're in love." She squirmed again, uneasy.

"Not helping-" he groaned deeply, placing his hands on her hips to keep her still.

"Let's play Questions." She suggested. He rolled his eyes but agreed.

"What's one thing you've been too embarrassed to tell me?"

"Um..." He thought. "Too embarrassed? You already know pretty much all of my embarrassing secrets. Oh wait, here's one you'll laugh at. When I first met her, I had a baby crush on Jo."

"What?" Katniss snorted.

"I know, obviously I didn't know her at all. If there's one thing you'd want to change about me, what is it?" He asked her.

"You stop too soon. You second guess yourself a lot." She said almost immediately. He raised his eyebrows.

"You've thought about that before, huh?" Katniss shrugged.

"Everyone has something they want to change about the people they're closest to. You probably have something about me in mind. My turn, have you ever indulged in PDA in front of someone else just to make them jealous?" She asked. Peeta blushed furiously. "I'm guessing that's a yes."

"Yeahhhhhh... I uh... I used to flirt with several other girls to try to get to you."

"I know. It did, it always really annoyed me." She admitted, laying down on him. "I used to wonder if you wanted more friends other than our group but you never said anything or invited anyone else so I didn't know what to think."

"I never needed more than our group. Uh... who was your first kiss?"

Katniss turned her head down so he couldn't see her face.

"It's bad, it's really bad." She laughed. "Johanna and I were each other's firsts so we could get it out of the way." Peeta choked.

"You would kiss Jo before you would kiss me?" Katniss laughed.

"Is someone jealous?"

"What? No... it was a long time ago, right? Like when you were 12?"

"I was 13 I think."

"Was it... good?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," she grinned. "Can you imagine, me and Johanna Mason in my room on my bed. Her lips were so puffy after, it was so hot, especially when her tongue did this thing, like-"

"You're shitting me. You made out with Jo?" Peeta asked hoarsely.

"No, you dumbass. It was a 3 second kiss and Prim walked in 10 seconds after, it was the most awkward thing ever." She said honestly. Peeta sighed in relief.

"And here I'm thinking I might have some competition from her..."

"Admit it, you're jealous I kissed Jo."

"Yeah of course I am!" He threw his hand up and ran his fingers through his hair. "Why did you have to make me imagine you and Jo making out in your bedroom." He groaned. She grinned.

"Because tormenting you is fun. If I called you a horny pervert, how would you react?"

"I'm not that horny all the time... it's just that you're always so damn sexy." He shot back.

"You got aroused when I was playing pool with you at Fin's house." She accused. Peeta smiled at the memory.

"No apologies for that."

"You don't think that's a little bit weird?"

"No, I don't. You looked damn good bent over the table. It was worth losing to you."

"You always lose to me."

"Yeah but that time, I really lost bad."

"Yes, you did." Katniss yawned.

"Are you tired?"

"No, I'm yawning for fun." Katniss replied sarcastically.

"Smartass."

"You know you love me." She said automatically. Peeta sighed, hugging her to him.

"I do know that." She suddenly felt bad.

"I'm sorry, Peeta, I didn't think."

"It's fine, Katniss. I still have 5 days left." He smiled wanly. He closed his eyes, images of him and Katniss together rushed over him bringing a wistful expression to his face.

"I do really care about you, Peeta. I would be sad if you died." She mumbled quietly.

"I'm touched, Everdeen."

"You know what I mean."

"Yeah, I do."

"I'm gonna fall asleep on you."

"Okay, Katniss." He made himself comfortable and Katniss snuggled her way under his arms. They both fell asleep smiling faintly.


	5. Thanksgiving Break: Tuesday

TUESDAY

"Good morning, sunshine." Katniss woke to Peeta's deep blue eyes in front of her. She looked up.

"How did we get here? I thought we were on the couch."

"We were, but I fell off in the middle of the night because somebody's a couch hog, so I just brought us here." Katniss smirked.

"I pushed you off? Good for me, serves you right for spending the entire day flirting with me."

"Oh come on, you enjoy it."

"No, I don't enjoy it. Well, that's not true."

"I know it's not."

"It's like this." She let her hands entwine in his hair and he closed his eyes. "You're a sucker for the shampoo thing." She giggled. He opened his eyes again to look up at her.

"The shampoo thing?" He questioned.

"Yeah, remember when you busted your arm and I ended up washing your hair in the sink because your brothers thought it would be gross?" He nodded, feeling a stirring below the belt as he recalled that incident. He pulled up one leg into a bent position to help hide it.

"You really liked getting your hair shampooed, remember?"

"Mhm..." He groaned softly, deep in his chest.

She smiled, recalling a similar reaction on his part, and continuing to comb her fingers through the curls that she'd convinced him to leave on the long side. He fruitlessly fought back a moan as her nails dragged along his scalp and she wondered how long it would be before he started... showing... his intense enjoyment like he did that other time, years ago. She blushed as she remembered it. She tugged on a curl. He mumbled something that sounded like swearing under his breath, but she figured it was something he hadn't meant to say out loud and let it go.

"It's like this, you enjoy the shampoo thing, but you're still not letting yourself enjoy it because you don't want me to freak out when you get an erection from it. Am I right?" Peeta looked up into her eyes.

"Yeah, you're right."

"I think it's cute when you're all flirty, but I don't let myself enjoy it because then you'd think I was falling for you, which I'm not, and it would be hard for you. Capiche?"

"I would love it if you let yourself enjoy it." He argued. Katniss didn't respond, instead saying,

"You know, I'd be willing to shampoo your hair for you if you ask me, I enjoy it." She tells him.

"You would? Good thing I haven't showered yet then." He grinned crookedly. "I'm gonna have to take you up on that offer."

A few minutes later, Peeta was sitting with his back to the sink, head tipped back under the faucet as the warm water ran over his hair. Katniss struggled with the top of the shampoo bottle but finally got it to squirt some into her palm. She turned off the water and began massaging it into Peeta's hair. He moaned with a dimpled smile on his face and his eyes closed.

"It's a good thing Jo's not around, she'd be jealous I can get a reaction out of you so easily." Katniss teased, running her nails along his scalp.

"Jo has nothing on you."

"Hm, maybe I should teach her my secrets, like how to give a guy a hair job."

"Maybe you shouldn't."

"What would you do if I did?" Peeta opened his eyes to squint up at her.

"I'd tell her how to get the best of you, even steven."

"Jerk."

"Yep." Katniss rinsed his hair and lifted his head up a little to wrap the towel around it like a headscarf.

"All done, Mellark, that'll be 28 bucks, please." She held her hand out for him to pay her, and Peeta grinned, reaching in his pockets.

"Aw darn, all I have is this." He pulled a hot sauce packet out and slapped it into her palm. "That should cover it, though."

"Yeah, sure." She rolled her eyes.

"I owe you something." Peeta insisted.

"No you don't, I like doing it."

"No, I want to give you something. What would you ask of me if you knew the answer was yes?"

"I don't know."

"Come on, what do you want."

"I don't need anything from you."

"I didn't ask if you did. What do you want."

"From you? I want-" she stopped. Peeta raised his brow at her.

"Yes?"

"Let's get some Jack Daniels and popcorn and play 80s music on my record player and throw a party for just the two of us." Katniss suggested all in one breath. She bit her lip waiting for his reaction.

"Not what I expected... at all, but sounds rad. I'm down."

"You don't have a choice, pretty boy. Your answer had to be yes." Katniss grinned at him. Peeta laughed, agreeing.

"So you think I'm pretty, huh?" He teased. Katniss rolled her eyes.

"EVERYONE thinks you're pretty, you moron, you're like the definition of hot blond dude."

"So that's it," he pouted, "I'm just a slab of meat to you?"

"Yep, one, good-looking slab of meat that constantly irritates and/or flirts with me." She slapped his ass like Jo, immediately blushing up to her hairline and Peeta grinned.

"Unlike with Jo, I am actually really into you so you have my permission to do that whenever you want." Peeta declared, winking. Katniss mumbled a string of curses and went into her room to find her record player and some bad 80s music.

Peeta wrapped his arms around her from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder.

"Do you need something?"

"A kiss from you."

"Peeta..." She groaned, turning to face him. "Fine." His face lit up. "A cheek kiss." He pouted, making the saddest puppy dog eyes possible. "Awwww... stop being cute!"

"I will if you kiss me."

"Peeta."

"Little tiny, 3 second kiss. You gave Jo one, and you don't even like girls. Come on." He begged.

"Okay. 3 seconds." She gave in. "Stop grinning, I am not kissing your teeth." Peeta took her in his arms and dipped her low.

"My love?" Katniss clutched his shoulders tightly. His head descended and she closed her eyes.

His soft lips stayed on hers for much longer than 3 seconds, but she couldn't find it in her to care. When he finally did release her, his eyes were still closed. She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him. His heart beat heavily under her ear.

"Was that so bad?" He asked, softly, finally looking down at her.

"No." She answered, just as quiet. "You kiss like a gentleman."

"What does that mean?"

"No tongue."

"Is that considered a good thing?"

"For first kisses? Yeah."

xxxxxxxxxxx

Katniss had taken one of Peeta's muscle tees, deciding that if Peeta was constantly flirting with her, it's high time to hit him back. She left her bra off, changing into the white tee and a pair of fishnet tights with some high heeled ankle boots. Why not, they were having a very grungy two-person party. She put on heavy winged eyeliner and dark rust-colored lipstick.

"That's all I need, some sexy fishnets and plenty of side boob." She told herself, trying to get the confidence to go out to where Peeta was waiting for her with music already blaring. She examined herself in her mirror, arranging the tshirt so it showed just enough boob to torment him. She practiced her seductive half-smile and her lazy bedroom eyes. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door.

Peeta whistled, taking a sip of his Jack.

"Is... isn't that my shirt?" Peeta asked, grinning and pointing at the dress on Katniss. She sauntered over and took some of his drink.

"No..." She replied, tilting her chin up defiantly.

"Since when are you allowed to take my clothes?" He smirked, gesturing for her to turn around so he could see her outfit.

Katniss shrugged, turning slowly.

"If you want it back, then-" she started pulling the shirt up with her side to him. Peeta blushed.

"You uh, you don't need to give it back now-" He stammered. "Unless you want to." Katniss dropped the hem again, having only exposed her thighs and the bottom of her black underwear. She turned back to him, perching herself on the side of the couch he was sitting on, taking more of his drink. He poured another for himself.

"Are you flirting with me?" Peeta asked, grinning.

"I'm fucking trying to." Katniss replied, slightly uneasily. "Is it working?"

Peeta got into Katniss's face with a low hum and that sexy dimpled smile.

His eyes did that thing that bored into her soul and she felt completely bare to him. Katniss blushed furiously, hiding her face in her glass.

He tipped her chin up with one finger, leaning into her ear.

"It's fucking me over." He whispered. "I love it." He pressed his lips beneath her ear, his hot breath making her skin tingle. She pushed his shoulders back, turning on the couch sideways so if he tried, he could look up her 'dress.'

"Tonight is my night, you don't kiss me unless I kiss you first. It's my party." She ordered, feeling the liquid confidence ooze through her. "I'm better at it anyway." She smirked.

"You think you're a better kisser than me? You think you're a better cuddler? Come over here and prove it, punk."

"My party." She reminded him, with a lazy half smile. "I tell you what to do. You owe me, remember?" He nodded seriously.

"Your party." His heartbeat was uneven as he thrilled at seeing Katniss like this. He loved her demanding side, he always had. He took another drink.

"Take your shirt off, if I'm gonna be half naked, so are you." She ordered. He readily complied. The record that was playing ended, and Katniss went over to her phone to play more music. Instead of picking it up from the table, though, she leaned over and rested her elbows on in, giving Peeta her back. Peeta downed his drink in one gulp, feeling himself growing hotter by the minute.

"Buttons" by the Pussycat Dolls came on first, and as the first verse played, Katniss dimmed the lights till it was like a club. She started singing along to the lyrics.

"Typical  
Hardly the type I fall for  
I like when the physical  
Don't leave me asking for more  
I'm a sexy mama." She started swaying to the beat, crooking her finger at Peeta with a come hither motion. He willingly complied.

"Who knows just how to get what I want and  
What I want to do is spring this on you  
Back up all of the things that I told you," She wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing their chests together as they swayed. Peeta let his hands fall on her waist. He hadn't heard her sing in years, but it was just as alluring as it had been back then. He felt his entire body reacting.

"You been saying all the right things all night long  
But I can't seem to get you over here to help take this off  
Baby, can't you see  
How these clothes are fitting on me." She continued, running her hands down his bare chest and humming through the rest of the song. Towards the end, when Peeta felt he couldn't take it anymore, Katniss let him over back to the couch, sitting in his lap innocently as if she was unaware of the huge bulge beneath her thing. She leaned against his chest. Peeta ran his finger along the top edge of her boot, his thoughts going a mile a minute.

"Great party." She grinned as "Dance for You" by Beyonce came on. Peeta agreed distractedly. "Get your mind out of the gutter, Mellark." She teased, poking his shoulder.

"How? You've made it move there permanently."

"Well, you can rest assured that you were right about one thing. Flirting is really fun." She laughed, but Peeta groaned.

"I'm going mental here and you're laughing? What the hell, Katniss." He pouted. She smirked again, grazing her hand over his chest lingering over his left pec.

"You feel how fast your heart is going?" She asked, running her thumb in a circle over his nipple. He bit his lip to contain his moan. He nodded. "Welcome to my world, 24/7 flirtatiousness courtesy of Peeta Mellark."

"I don't torment you, I just flirt. This is hard-core seduction going on here." He complained. "Not that I don't secretly love it, but it would be greater if I could do something about the situation down below."

"Oh you can," She purred into his ear, feeling him grow harder. "There's a bathroom right there, sweetheart." Peeta dropped his head back onto the couch.

"You're horrible."

"I know."

xxxxxxxxxx

"Katniss. Katniss, babe, sweetheart. You need to stop." Peeta's stomach muscles trembled as he clenched his eyes shut and bit his lip so hard it bled. Katniss was kissing her way down his chest, having left a hickey already on his neck. Her teeth clamped down on his nipple, and she ran her tongue over it soothingly. Peeta groaned loudly, pushing back on her shoulder. She stopped, looking up at him with her wide grey eyes.

"Hm? What's wrong Peeta? Your lip is bleeding. You want me to kiss it and make it better?" She offered, clambering up from the couch onto his lap. He scrunched his face up, shaking his head.

"I think we need to go to bed, we're both drunk and I'm not the strong one between the two of us, I won't be able to stop you if you keep going." He explained to her.

"Why do I need to stop?"

"Because otherwise we won't until we've gone all the way, and I don't want to be your fuck buddy. I love you too much."

"Oh. That again."

"Yeah, stupid emotions came back." He rolled his eyes. "I'm gonna put you in bed now, do you wanna leave your tights on or what?" He asked, scooping her up.

"No, can you help me get my boots off too?" He laid her down on the bed, unbuckling her boots and sliding them off her feet, then blushing furiously as he groped under her dress for the waistband of her tights, making her giggle and squirm, before he found it and pulled them down carefully. "Thank you, honey." She grinned up at him, nestling herself in her bed.

"No problem. Goodnight, Katniss." He leaned down to kiss her hair and turned the light off, leaving her room and slumping against the wall of his own.

He breathed heavily, wiping sweat from his brow. He couldn't get his mind off Katniss and how flirty and seductive she'd been all evening, and eventually he took care of himself in the bathroom, cursing the whole time.

"You have 4 days left, Mellark. You can do it."


	6. Thanksgiving Break: Wednesday

WEDNESDAY

"Peeta?" Katniss wandered into Peeta's room. Despite how much he'd gone into hers, she rarely visited him. She sat down heavily on his bed and put her hand onto his bare shoulder. "Peeta-" She whined. "Peeta wake up, I need you-"

"Hm? What? Need me for what?" He blinked sleepily. She rolled her eyes, reaching over him to open the blinds on his window a crack so she could see. He groaned and pulled his blanket over his head. "Close the damn blinds, Katniss!"

"No, get up you slob. I'm hungry and I can't cook and there's nothing to eat."

"You want me to make you breakfast? Do you not know what cereal is?"

"Peeta..." Katniss pouted, her head pounding as she lay down next to him. "You're so cranky when you're hungover."

"I know, either sleep with me or stop talking." He settled his heavy arm around her and fumbled with the blinds until they closed all the way. She sighed, making herself comfortable.

"You'll make me food later?"

"Sure, honey, whatever you want." He promised, drifting off again. "I feel like shit."

xxxxxxxxxxxx

"Good morning, sunshine." Peeta greeted her, hours later, kissing her hair and setting a tray down on the desk beside the bed.

"It's not even morning anymore." She hadn't even felt him get up. "How are you so pleasant when you were so bitchy earlier?"

"I just needed a couple more hours of quality sleep to burn it off, if you ever want me in a good mood, just take a nap with me and I'll be irritatingly perky when I wake up again." He climbed over her to open the window and nudged her gently to sit up. "We're eating breakfast in bed, scoot over."

"Yeah, you are irritatingly perky... but you brought food so I guess you can stay."

"Stay? Oh thanks, you know this is my room, right darling?" He teased, settling the tray on her lap. Two giant stacks of pancakes and a thick slab of butter on top made her mouth water.

"I would marry you just for your culinary expertise," She joked.

"I feel like my presence in your life is primarily for food, then for my obvious good looks, do you even like me at all?" He stuck his lower lip out.

"If you suddenly were unable to cook and lost your beauty, you'd be out in a second." She smirked viciously, and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"I'm having an insecure moment here, reassure me."

"I'm just kidding, I liked you before you got ridiculously hot and learned how to cook, remember?"

"Oh yeah, pre-puberty was a bad time for me."

"That's just because it contrasts so much with how nice life is as a hot cook. Normal people don't change that much."

"Maybe I'm an x-man or something, I wonder if some day I'll discover superpowers."

"Your superpower is distracting me from the food on my lap, eat or shut up." She tossed his words from earlier back at him and dug into one stack. "Still no syrup?"

"No, it's too expensive for us poor college students to afford. I can get molasses for you though..."

"Ew, butter will be fine. Remind me to ask for that for Christmas."

xxxxxxxxxx

"Hey, Jo?" Peeta greeted, smirking at Katniss. She covered her mouth to contain her snort at Peeta's distraught tone as they prank-called Jo.

"Hey Peet, what's up? Why you disturbing my well earned vacay?"

"I'm sorry, I had to talk to you."

"You sound desperate."

"I'm going crazy, man, I forgot how intoxicating love is." Katniss covered her face to smother her laughter.

"Look, I know you've dealt with this shit before-"

"I met someone, Jo." Peeta interrupted.

"You... you did? Where?"

"At the library. She's so beyond words, she's beautiful and she's smart and she's hilarious, I can't even tell you how infatuated I am with her."

"Well tell me about her, how long have you known her, what have you done?"

"I met her a while ago, but she keeps turning me down, it's so frustrating!" Peeta crushed the can in his hand for effect. "Every time I try it's like BAM. Friendzone."

"Sounds like a previous situation you've been in."

"Oh it's worse now than it's ever been." He proclaimed.

"What does she look like?"

"She's small, probably up to my shoulder. And dark hair, light eyes, tan, fit..."

"Dude you sure you're not on rebound from the K-bird? She sounds exactly like our dear little sweetheart."

"No, I'm sure, she's it for me, nobody else."

"You feeling okay? Last time I talked to you, it was Latinas."

"Latinas?" Katniss mouthed silently. Peeta shrugged.

"No, I know it's my fate."

"Okay do I need to come back there and beat some sense into you or are you being real and I get Katniss to myself now?" She demanded.

"I'm fine! Enjoy your trip, you don't need to worry about me, I just wanted to vent to someone and obviously I couldn't vent to Katniss as she might be offended."

"Bitch friendzoned you, you have every right to move on you know."

"It's still uncomfortable to talk about affairs of the heart with an old flame."

"You talk to me don't you?"

"Jo, I thought you were hot for like 10 minutes, we aren't old flames."

"You keep telling yourself that, sugah."

"I gotta go, Katniss is getting out of the shower."

"Alright, bye. Bye to you too, Katniss, you can laugh now!" Jo shouted before hanging up. Katniss looked shocked.

"She always knows..." Peeta laughed. "I haven't been able to prank call her in years, she always figures it out somehow."

"Latinas?"

Peeta laughed.

"That's you. Whenever Jo would type Katniss, her phone would autocorrect to Latinas so we just called you that as a code."

"Huh, interesting. So how often did you talk about me?"

"I told you before, I talk to people about you pretty frequently."

"Anything I should know?"

"Nothing in particular or that you don't know already. I'm in love with you, I'm a complete moron, and Jo still has a crush on you. That's about it."

"She really does? I thought she's just been teasing all these years!" Katniss gasped.

"No, it's real. You should talk to her about it, it's really interesting to hear her talk about her emotions."

"Huh. That would be weird."

"Alright." Peeta clapped his hands together and stood.

"You and I, my love, are going to make a pillow fort and binge watch Hannah Montana until we fall asleep."

"You had me till you said Hannah Montana."

"You know you love that show, don't even try to deny it." Peeta grinned. Katniss rolled her eyes.

"I don't love Hannah Montana. I find it funny but I don't love it."

"Yeah, just like you 'don't love me'" he mocked, using air quotes. Katniss scowled but went to steal pillows from all the beds anyway.

"I kind of want to take a shower before we spend the day in the fort though, I feel gross. I'll be fast." She went into the bathroom and locked the door, turning on the water and resting her forehead against the wall. She hadn't anticipated how intense Peeta would be about trying to win her over in a week. It almost gave her whiplash to be around him, one minute playful banter and then flirty the next. But she couldn't tell herself that she didn't like it just a little bit.

While Katniss showered, Peeta worked on the fort, making it big enough to be comfortable but small enough to be close quarters. He tucked a bag of chocolate chips under the couch. He decided to queue up the best episodes himself and let Katniss pick from there, so he started up his laptop and set it up in the back of the fort so they could lay on their stomachs and watch.

He heard Katniss shut off the shower a minute later, and then her voice from behind him.

"Don't look, I'm naked!" He heard her squeak before running to her room and slamming her door.

"You're really trying to stop me from looking at you by saying you're naked?" He called back.

"Did you look?"

"Not until you were gone, not my fault if you're fast."

"Well, then it worked." She yelled through the door. A few minutes later, she came out in a tank top and shorts, her hair in a dripping messy bun on top of her head.

"Welcome back." Peeta smiled, holding the blanket in front of the entrance for her to walk inside. "M'lady, I present, Fort Everlark." Katniss looked back at him from halfway through the opening. "Everdeen and Mellark, we live here, it's our fort. What, would you prefer Peeniss?"

Katniss blushed and rolled her eyes, deciding not to argue the point.

"You already picked the episodes?"

"Nah, just pulled up some of the best for you to pick, it's faster." He crawled in after her and they made themselves comfortable while Katniss scrolled through the options. She snorted suddenly.

"You ship Lolliver! You have every Lolliver episode on here-" Katniss scrolled farther to confirm. Peeta scoffed.

"I do not, those are some of the funniest ones, I mean, the Simon Cowell counterpart on America's Top Talent was gold."

"I guess I can agree on that. Let's start there." She clicked on the link and settled against Peeta while it loaded.

"Oliver has a good voice, too bad he's not more recognized now."

"I like his videos, I've only seen like three, but he was always slightly emo and I wonder if he grew out of that or still uses it." Katniss replied.

"I dunno, he's not really relevant anymore. I used to think-" He cut himself off as they started singing loudly and badly to the theme song, grinning at the screen as it ended, both sighing.

"Childhoods."


	7. Thanksgiving Break: Thursday Morning

**I know! I'm finishing up the Thanksgiving day chapter, should be up soon. In the mean time... I have a bunch of other stories I'm also updating today... y'know... if you wanna check those out...**

"HAPPY THANKSGIVING!" Peeta shouted at 12:01. He rolled into Katniss and gave her a bear hug, smooching sloppy kisses all over her face and neck.

"Peeta-" She squeaked, trying fruitlessly to bat his hands away, laughing. "It's thanksgiving not Christmas or New Year's."

"I'm celebrating what I'm thankful for, Katniss, let loose a little," He stated mock-seriously between kisses. Katniss rolled her eyes, letting him smother her.

"So what's the plan for today?" She asked when he stopped kissing her and just lay with her in his arms while Miley's bone song played in the background.

"First, we pass out from exhaustion after several more episodes, then we wake up late and eat a gigantic breakfast, then we plan a luxurious spa day and pamper ourselves with classy champagne and bubbles and such."

"That's an oddly specific plan."

"I even bought champagne, lavender scented bubble bath and temporary tattoos when I was out on Tuesday getting party supplies."

"You've been planning this since then?"

"We're in a dorm on Thanksgiving, our options are a little limited here."

"Where did you get the idea for a spa day?"

"I don't know, I was buying Jack Daniels and I saw champagne and I thought, what's a relaxing, romantic reason to drink champagne? Hot tub. Well, we don't have a hot tub but we do have a bath tub. So I bought bubble bath. Then I saw temporary tattoos and I thought it would be fun to get inked, so I got those too."

"Okay... remind me to never send you into Target by yourself."

"Probably a good decision."

Katniss leaned her head on his arm as the returned their attention to his laptop, and she felt her eyelids getting heavier.

"Roxy like a puma!" She parroted sleepily while Peeta laughed. Soon, she was asleep, and Peeta looked down at her adoringly.

"Got a couple more days, gotta get her over the edge..." he mumbled to himself, playing with a piece of her hair that had come down from the topknot it was in.

He smiled faintly, sighing heavily as he watched her closed eyes, leaning down to kiss right over her cheekbone.

"I love you, Katniss." He whispered.


	8. Thanksgiving Break: Thursday

THANKSGIVING DAY

Katniss gradually woke up, feeling Peeta breathing softly beside her. She leaned into his arms, drawing comfort from them. Why are big boys so cute when they're asleep? She could tell the exact moment he woke up, his breathing changed just slightly.

"Good morning, love." Peeta greeted her, gently running his fingers through her hair. Katniss looked at him sleepily.

"Hi Peeta. You're in the nice mood today?" She asked before thinking. Peeta looked confused.

"What? The nice mood?"

"Yeah," Katniss started, looking down. "The 8 year old Peeta mood, no flirty, just really... sweet." She explained.

"Huh. I... guess? I don't really know." He scratched the back of his neck. "You like that mood?" Katniss nodded.

"Yeah, that mood is easy."

"Okay, then yes, I'm in the nice mood today. Or for now at least." He pressed a kiss to her temple, tucking her head under his chin. "Happy Thanksgiving, again."

"Thanks, again." Katniss smiled. Peeta seemed like he was thinking a lot. This mood is quiet, but in a different way from the distant mood that he gets in when he's overthinking things. When he's distant, he doesn't touch Katniss, and doesn't always let her touch him. When he's just contemplating things, he's subconsciously more physical than usual, doing little gestures without even thinking about it.

"What are you thinking about so hard?" She asked softly, nudging his hip with hers.

"Huh? Oh, nothing. Nothing." He blinked quickly and smiled at her.

"Peeta." She pressed. He sighed.

"I'm an idiot, aren't I?" He asked rhetorically, so Katniss waited for him to finish. "Am I making any progress at all with you?" Katniss looked down.

"Um. I don't think so, I don't think anything's changed." She told him quietly. She felt him suck in a deep breath.

"Gotta up my game then..." He muttered to himself. Katniss felt thrilled but also terrified at that. What does he mean by upping his game...

"Enough of this, though!" He sat up, groping under a blanket for a note pad and pencil he'd stashed there. "Plans for today: bubble bath, yes?" He looked at her for consent. "Just you in the bath." He assured her when she looked slightly panicked.

"Oh. Well then, sure, I guess. You got the bubble bath anyway, might as well use it."

"Okay. Bubble bath tonight then. Temporary tattoos?"

"Sounds fun."

"Champagne all day long?"

"Geez, how many bottles did you get?"

"Four, but I was also thinking about making some black velvet cocktails."

"Black velvet? Okay, that sounds good. When are we doing the bubble bath, because if we're doing it this evening then I'll shower now."

"We can do it in the evening, nice and relaxing before bed. Do you want to go laser tagging before then? I don't think it would be too packed on Thanksgiving." Peeta suggests. She frowns.

"Is it even open today?"

"Oh yeah, a friend of my brother's runs it, and he has it open on a lot of holidays. Are you interested?"

"Sure, I love doing things that you're somewhat good at and then creaming you." Katniss grinned. "The question is, can your self-esteem take such a hard hit?" She teased.

"Well, I was in a nice mood but now I think I'm gonna have to get brutal to take you down a notch." Peeta smirks back.

"Oh you're on, if you can't beat me in pool, what makes you think you can beat me at laser tag?"

"You're highly distracting, but in laser tag, it's dark so I can't see you anyway." He shrugged, moving to get up.

"Aww, you're not gonna stay in the fort?" Katniss whined.

"Sorry love, your breath stinks." Peeta winked, dodging the pillow she threw at his head, laughing.

Katniss got up a minute later, showering while Peeta made breakfast. She put on one of her darker tshirts so she'd be less visible in the dark. She left her room a minute later, still finishing braiding her hair back. When Peeta saw her, he smirked slightly, turning off the stove and dumping eggs onto a plate and coming towards her.

"Interesting choice of tshirt, Katniss." He commented huskily. She shrugged.

"It's black." She didn't think twice of the dark green lettering across the front reading 'keep calm and bite me.'

Peeta noticed. He came within inches of her, wrapping his arms around her back to hold her in place, and leaning down so she thought he was going to kiss her cheek. She gasped when he nipped her earlobe.

"Peeta!"

"Just following orders." He said innocently, continuing to let his teeth graze over her throat. She tried, valiantly, not to react, but a tiny moan escaped her. Peeta smiled and drew back.

"Mission accomplished." He shrugged as if it didn't effect him at all, but his bright eyes betrayed him.

"Jerk." She mumbled, taking the plate with more bacon on it.

"You're so cute when you're frustrated." Peeta teased. Katniss raised her eyebrow.

"I'm frustrated? Have you taken a look in a mirror lately?" She taunted. She didn't plan on going further than sassing him... for now, so when he sent her a dirty smile, she rolled her eyes and ignored it.

After they'd eaten breakfast, they headed to the laser tag place, the music in the car turned up loud and heads bopping to the beat. It felt very normal to Katniss, and she enjoyed it while it lasted. When they got out, several couples as well as a couple groups of kids and young adults stood around waiting to be admitted. As a couple of the guys winked over at her, Peeta not-so-subtly drew her closer and flipped them off, making Katniss laugh.

"Peeta, I have absolutely no interest in them." She told him quietly.

"I know, it's just fun to be protective and have an excuse to have a vendetta against people in laser tag." He whispered into her ear, his lips brushing her skin and making her glad it was not bright and he probably couldn't see her blush.

Shortly after, it was time to gear up and start the game, so Katniss and Peeta separated, parting words being jokingly hostile and vaguely threatening. Soon, they were in the dark of the game, and Katniss had the advantage.

She was small, dark and fast. She was expert at hiding and very hard to get sights on. But Peeta was ruthless, taking out pretty much everyone else playing without even starting to search Katniss out. She stayed in her corner, picking a few people off while Peeta did most of the work.

She waited for the perfect moment. Pretty much everyone else was out of the game, so she waited till he passed her to dart out, immediately crashing her lips into his, pressing him backward into a corner. He was breathing heavily and growing rather warm, and she pulled away, looking into his eyes for a second before taking out her gun and shooting him multiple times, then disappearing. Peeta groaned.

"KATNISS, HOW COULD YOU?" She held in her laughs from her new hiding spot, waiting for the last two besides her to take each other out so she could be named victor.

She heard shots fired, and waited for something to be said. She darted out in the dark, shooting the faint outline of a person before ducking back undercover. She heard a quiet "shit." and smiled to herself. Then Peeta's voice.

"He's out, Katniss, now it's just you and me. Don't try anything dirty now, I've got my guard up." He warned. She listened to where his footsteps were to get an idea of his tactic. She waited till he was moving closer to her to sneak up silently behind him, shooting him again and running. Peeta heard her running, though, and shot at her. She evaded many of his shots, but did take a couple of hits. She turned around and shot back once she was undercover, hitting him once more.

It was now a stand-off. She couldn't see him anymore, and he wasn't moving so she didn't know where he was. She didn't dare to move lest he easily hit her. With a sudden idea, she took her phone out of her pocket and set it up on whatever she was hiding behind, then silently left, moving to a new hiding place before shooting at the reflective surface of her phone. It worked, Peeta thought she hadn't moved since the shot appeared to be coming from the same place. He fired back and Katniss easily found him. Taking her aim, she shot him a final three times, and his buzzer went off.

"Seriously, Katniss?" He groaned again, as the dim lights started coming on. Katniss laughed.

"I told you I'd win!" She crowed, retrieving her phone and bumping into Peeta's side as they left.

"And here I'm thinking you're gonna behave." He sighed.

"I was gonna behave, but then there were so many other options." She grinned at him. He rolled his eyes.

"You always play dirty."

"I play to win." She corrects him, offering her fist. He bumped it reluctantly.

"I'm still better than you at cooking."

"No shit, Sherlock." She agreed.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Okay, you can come in now." Katniss called through the door. Peeta opened it cautiously, checking that she was indeed in the bathtub. Katniss lay back with bubbles up to her shoulders, hair piled up on her head. The room was filled with steam as Peeta closed the door behind himself. He dropped the beanbag he'd brought in on the floor.

"Comfortable?" He asked her, handing her a cocktail from the counter, where a variety of drinks stood ready to pour. She sipped it delicately.

"Very, thanks." She answered, grinning. "What do we do now?" Peeta queued up some gentle jazz on his phone and set it down on the counter.

"Now we relax. Chat. Enjoy having nothing to do. Get inked, I have some pretty badass tattoos in mind for you."

"Sounds wild." She smiled. "What do we chat about?"

Peeta settled himself into the beanbag.

"Wow, it's hotter in here than I was expecting." He peeled his shirt over his head and hung it over the towel rack. Katniss rolled her eyes. "Um, I don't know. What are you thankful for?" He asked.

"I feel like that's a very loaded question." Katniss scrunched up her nose. "I'm actually - honestly - very thankful for being able to spend this holiday with my best friend."

"I'm honored, Katniss." Peeta smiled sweetly.

"What? Oh, no not you, I was talking about this." Katniss grinned, holding up her drink. Peeta looked very offended.

"I'm kidding, idiot. Of course I'm glad I get to spend this time with you. I feel like we've grown apart a bit lately, and I'm glad we can spend this time together to re-establish ourselves."

"I feel the same way. I'm also thankful that I still have a couple days to get you to admit you love me." Peeta leaned forward a little bit, clinking his glass against hers. His drink sloshed over the top. Katniss sunk lower into the water to escape his gaze a little.

"Don't hold your breath, Peeta. I love you, but I'm not in love with you." She told him once again. Peeta shook his head.

"There you go not telling yourself the truth. But I'll wait, as much as it kills me." He sighed heavily, putting on his best sad puppy face.

"Aww, not the puppy dog eyes..." Katniss groaned. Peeta directed them at her and it pulled at her heart to see him looking so sad. She downed the last of her drink and looked up to the counter to see what was there. She decided a black velvet cocktail did sound really good, so she slid up and out of the bath enough to reach it, knowing that while her chest was probably visible despite the bubbles, her waist down was still safely underwater. Peeta cleared his throat.

Katniss poured herself the drink and settled back into the tub to enjoy it. She looked at Peeta who was suddenly very concerned with his own drink.

"I don't care if you look, you know." She laughed. Peeta looked up.

"Really? You've always been really uncomfortable with that."

"You've already seen my boobs several times, and probably touched them that night we slept basically naked." She explained. "It seems pointless at this point to hide." She shrugged. Peeta's eyebrows went up.

"I mean, I guess." He sipped his drink slowly. "We've changed so much, huh?"

"Yes we have. What exactly are you referring to?"

"Remember the Christmas Johanna got me drunk?" Peeta recalled with a laugh.

"Oh yeah, that was pretty great." Katniss smiled.

"We were so young and innocent then. I got drunk off like four mugs of spiked eggnog. And you let me."

"Of course I did, you were such a bitch at that age." Katniss rolled her eyes.

"I know. I've been a bitch for a long time, haven't I." He added, downing the last of his drink. "It's nice to be past that and be honest. I don't have to constantly watch what I'm doing and saying."

"I'm sorry you had to put yourself through that. I'm an idiot." Katniss admitted.

"Yes you are. But an idiot that I love a lot." He poured himself another drink. "And it doesn't hurt that you're pretty hot." He winked.

They'd been drinking off and on throughout the day, so Katniss knew he was more than a little tipsy. It reminded her of the good old days, so she didn't stop him. He knew when to stop drinking.

"Why did you kiss me in the laser tag arena?" He asked suddenly. Katniss shrugged.

"Distraction tactic." She offered.

"Didn't feel like it to me." Peeta's eyes bored into hers, making her slightly uneasy. "Felt real."

"Peeta, that doesn't make any sense. A laser tag arena is anything but romantic, and I shot you six times right after."

"I feel the thing every time you kiss me." Peeta started, leaning closer and setting his drink down carefully on the tile. "I feel it everywhere, you have to feel it too. You said a three second kiss the first time, but you let me kiss you for nearly a minute. You wouldn't have done that if you didn't feel anything." Katniss shook her head.

"At your party, when you were drunk, you wanted to have sex, or at least come pretty damn close. You wanted me." Peeta reminded her. Katniss's eyebrows shot up.

"What? You didn't tell me I did that!"

"I didn't know you didn't remember."

"Oh shit... what did I do?"

"Kissed me, everywhere. all up and down my chest, nearly drove me insane... Gave me this." He pointed to a fading hickey on his neck. "Where did you think that came from? You were all over me, I had to make you stop otherwise you'd probably have gone all the way."

"Why did you do that?" Katniss asked, puzzled. Peeta looked extremely sad for a minute.

"I'd never take advantage of your intoxication, Katniss. You know that, right? I'll never take advantage of you. When I fuck you, it'll be because you want it." His voice dropped to a husky note. Katniss fought the sudden shudder she felt. Peeta took her free hand. "I love you, so I can wait."

"When?" Katniss questioned. "You said when you fuck me."

"Because you're blind, but you're not dumb. You'll see it eventually." Peeta explained. Katniss shook her head.

"When will you stop doing this to yourself, Peeta? I don't love you."

"You're wrong." Peeta sipped his drink, glancing knowingly over the top at Katniss. She shook her head again.

"I'm getting cold." She grabbed her towel from the rack and got up carefully, wrapping herself waist-down, careful to not flash Peeta. She washed the soap bubbles off her hands in the sink while the tub drained and Peeta gathered the various bottles on the counter together to bring into the kitchen. When he came back, he wrapped her in his arms securely, both topless but neither really caring. He held her for a long time, not wanting to lose her. He sighed heavily.

"Why don't you love me?" He asked quietly. Katniss's heart broke at his words.

"I do, just... not the way you do. I'm sorry, Peeta, I just don't feel that way."

"Why not? What's so bad about loving me?" He sounded heartbroken.

"Nothing, nothing! You're the best guy, but I'm not in love with you." She pulled away then and went to her room to dress. She just pulled on a pair of shorts and took her hair down from the bun it was in. She went to join Peeta in his bed, feeling inexplicably sad.

He didn't answer when she knocked on his door, so she opened it cautiously. He was already asleep under the blankets, and even in the dim light, Katniss didn't miss the little puddles on the pillow beneath his eyes. She curled up quietly beside him, her hand over his heart. It didn't take long to fall asleep in his arms.


	9. Thanksgiving Break: Friday

**I FINALLY have the next chapter up, plus a couple scenes from Peeta's POV from this chapter and a few chapters ago, takes place after Katniss falls asleep on Monday night. Read and review!**

Katniss woke up early the next morning, feeling better rested than she normally did. She stretched, and then realized she wasn't in her bed. She noticed the sketched portrait of herself over the desk, decided she must be in Peeta's room and that she should wear silver more often.

It occurred to her then that Peeta must already be up, so she got up to see if he was making breakfast.

As she walked into the common area, Peeta opened the door to the bathroom, wearing nothing but a towel around his hips, a smaller towel in his hands, scrubbing his hair dry. Katniss gaped. Peeta froze, lips parted as he realized Katniss was up.

"Uh, good morning, sweetheart." He said sweetly, self consciously holding his arms in front of his chest as she ran her gaze over it.

"Hi Peeta..." She replied distractedly, snapping herself out of it. "Sorry!" She closed her eyes and shook her head as if to clear it. Peeta cleared his throat, stepping closer.

"I don't mind if you ogle me if that means you're attracted to me." He smiled carefully. Katniss looked up at him, blinking.

"You make me feel so much better about it." She joked. Peeta was so close, the steam from the bathroom enveloped them and he tilted his head down more, closer to her lips. She didn't move.

He got closer... and closer...

Both of them jumped when Peeta's phone started ringing.

Cursing quietly, he grabbed it, checked caller ID and cursed again.

"I'm gonna get dressed, I'll be back in a minute." He told her sharply, going into his room and answering the phone once the door was closed.

Katniss pressed her hand to her heart, trying to make it slow down.

"He's my best friend, what's going on." She muttered to herself. She went into the bathroom and brushed her teeth, thinking about when this happened, when everything changed.

She was definitely attracted to him, had been for a long time. You'd have to be seriously blind to not see how handsome he is.

She knew she loved him a lot, he was the kind of person that it was difficult to NOT love.

But...

Now she's doubting everything she'd been telling him all break.

She can't... possibly...

He's not... right about her, is he?

~~~~~~~~~~~

"What's new, Katniss?" Peeta asked as he came out of his room twenty minutes later, voice it's increasingly common shade of carefully neutral.

"What do you mean, what's new?" She asked without looking up from the eggs she was frying.

"Any new developments on the get-Katniss-to-see-her-feelings project?"

"The what? And no, there aren't."

"Katniss-" Peeta sighed. "I know how to read you like a book. I know that face. You have come to some conclusion and considering there's nothing else really going on right now, I'm willing to bet the conclusion is about us."

"Peeta, you're not always right about me. I know my own head." She told him, not daring to look into his eyes and let him see he was ALWAYS right about everything remotely involved with her.

Peeta sighed heavily again and leaned against the wall.

"If it's work you want me to do for you, to prove something, tell me and I'll do it. Whatever you need." He offered. Katniss shook her head.

"I know you love me, you don't need to prove it." She finally looked up at his eyes and flinched at the sadness, almost changing her mind.

"Katniss-"

"Do you want eggs?" She cut him off, looking away again. Peeta paused, nodded and gave Katniss two plates.

Breakfast was long and quiet.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Katniss?" She heard him walking to her door and knocking.

"Yeah?"

"I'm taking you out."

Katniss opened the door, fingers still on the buttons of her shirt.

"What?"

"I'm taking you out, help me pack food." He turned and took the three steps into the kitchen, clearly expecting her to follow. She put her phone in her jeans pocket and joined him.

"Where are we going?"

"Surprise. Don't bother trying to get it out of me, you'll get nowhere." He threatened, pointing a spoon at her. Katniss quirked an eyebrow, her heartbeat quickening.

"Really. I think you're underestimating me."

"No way will I tell you." Peeta turned back to the soup he was packing. She stepped closer, and Peeta concentrated harder on the soup he was carefully pouring. She smiled to herself.

"Where are we going, Peeta?" She dragged her hand up his arm, leaning up to his shoulder to see his hands. He breathed heavily. Her other hand rested on his waist, fingers teasing to move lower down his hip.

"I'm not telling you." He maintained breathlessly.

"Come on..." she pouted, leaning the side of her head against his neck. He leaned into the touch.

"I'll tell you..."

"Really?"

"If you admit you know you love me." He finished. Katniss rolled her eyes to herself.

"That's not fair, Peeta."

"Neither are you."

"What should I wear?" She finally sighed, starting to move away.

"What you have on is fine," he answered, not letting her get far before he pulled her back in and hugged her closely. Katniss wrapped her arms around him, leaning her head on his chest. He rested his cheek on the top of her head.

"Why do you have to make it so complicated?" He asked her quietly.

"Why do you have to make it so hard." She asked back. He sighed and held her closer.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Wow."

"I know."

"You've been here before?"

"Hell yeah. Guess where I come to cry." Peeta joked.

"Peeta..."

"Okay sorry." He laughed. "I cry a couple miles from here." He grinned.

"Peeta!" Katniss laughed. He hugged her to his side and kissed the top of her head.

"Wanna eat now or later?"

"Let's eat now, I'm starving."

She took his hand and pulled him back towards his car, away from the cliff.

Birds above them chirped and squawked at each other, the wind blew in her hair and tousled his curls. The air was crisp and fresh, and Katniss breathed it in. After being in the city for so long, it was very refreshing.

Peeta opened his trunk and they climbed up to sit inside and open the picnic basket.

They ate quietly, but unlike that morning, the silence was peaceful and not deafening.

"Would you like to get a milkshake on the way back? My treat." Katniss offered when they finished. Peeta's eyebrows went up.

"Are you asking me on a date, Katniss?" Katniss rolled her eyes.

"No, it's just... it's my turn to do something nice for you. If you don't want a milkshake, I mean we could get something else, like, I don't know, popcorn or like cheesecake or something, I think they should be open today-"

"Katniss." Peeta touched her lips with his finger to get her to quiet. "A milkshake sounds great, thanks."

"Yeah, you're welcome." She offered, distracted. She blinked and turned back to the empty containers she was putting away.

"You're sure?"

"Peeta, it's only like $4-"

"No, I mean-" he cleared his throat. "Never mind. Do you wanna finish this bread?"

"Did you make it?"

"Yeah, this morning."

"Hell yeah."

~~~~~~~~

"Table for two?"

"Uh, yes." Peeta fidgeted uncomfortably with the cuffs of his jacket, gesturing for Katniss to follow the waitress in front of him.

"Nervous?" Katniss teased. Peeta shrugged.

"This is not how I imagined my first date with you going."

"It's not a date, Peeta." Katniss frowned as the girl got to their table.

"Here you go, your server will be around in a minute." She promised, leaving them on their own.

"Split a tangerine sherbet shake?" Peeta offered without even glancing at the menus. Katniss nodded.

"Sounds great."

"So why is this not a date?"

"Because people who go on a date are at least partially willing for it to be the start of something." Her words were like a shove, and Peeta slumped back against the back of the booth.

"You know it has nothing to do with you or your worth." She assured him quickly. He shook his head.

"I... I know in my head that it doesn't, but that doesn't mean my heart understands." He was cut off by the server coming up.

"Hi, my name is Michael, I'll be taking care of you today, can I get you started with some drinks?" The very gay man pulled a pen from behind his ear and a pad from his apron. Peeta told them their order.

"Alright perfect, I'll be right back with that. Can I say that you two are the cutest together?" He smiled.

"Oh we're not-" Katniss started at the same time that Peeta spoke.

"Thank you, she's a special one alright." He winked at the man who grinned back.

When he left, Peeta wouldn't meet Katniss's eyes.

"Peeta."

"What? We'll probably never see him again and he thought we were cute together. I mean, I'm inclined to agree but I'm a bit biased."

She scowled at him a little but moved on quickly.

"What are we doing tonight? More binge watching?"

"We're going to our dorm to get warm clothes and blankets and pillows and then we're heading back out to the country to enjoy the glowing rage balls in the sky." Katniss snorted at the description.

"Alright, I'm down."

Michael came back with their milkshake, giving them two straws and a smile before disappearing again.

In order for them to share, Peeta reasoned in his mind, they had to be closer. A lot closer. So he scooted around the booth till they were inches apart, thighs nearly touching and hips dangerously close. Katniss glances up at him sideways but he handed her a straw and unwrapped his own innocently.

Katniss rolled her eyes and huffed when he took the first sip.

"It's like a bad 60s rom com." He whispered. Katniss smiled around her straw.

"Yeah except backwards, I'm taking you out. That probably didn't happen a whole lot back in the day."

"True. To maintain the rom com mood, I think now is a good time to remind you that I am wholeheartedly in love with you and will probably cry when you figure out you're in love with me too." He told her plainly, and Katniss didn't let it show on her face how conflicted she felt.

"Well what can I say to that." She muttered quietly. Peeta snorted.

"Oh Peeta, I don't know how I didn't see it before, but I'm so in love with you and have been for years, you're so hot and sexy-" Peeta imitated her voice. Katniss cut him off by shoving a spoonful of shake into his mouth. She laughed at his face and bumped her hip against him.

"No proxy declarations of love in public thanks." She warned him with a smile. He shook his head.

The milkshake was gone in no time - thanks Peeta - and Michael came back to drop off the bill. He set it down near Peeta, but Katniss grabbed for it before Peeta got the wild notion to pay for it anyway.

"My treat." She reminded him. Peeta smiled at her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"Thanks, Love. My turn next time."

~~~~~~~~~

PEETA POV

He didn't even notice he was moving closer, tilting his head down and watching her lips. His heart pounded in his ears as their faces got closer and closer. He pressed his sweaty, shaking palms against his thighs hoping she didn't notice. They were so close-

He cursed as his phone started ringing. It broke the moment and they moved apart. Peeta grabbed his phone and checked he caller ID, cursing out Jo's name and the STUPID profile picture that vibrated on his screen.

"I'm gonna get dressed, I'll be back in a minute." He told Katniss, going into his room and shutting the door before answering it.

"What the hell do you want, Jo?"

"Damn, what's wrong with you? You're usually so chirpy in the mornings."

"If you hadn't called RIGHT at that moment, I'd be kissing Katniss right now." He growled at her, quietly so Katniss wouldn't hear him.

Jo whistled.

"Fuck me... she's come clean then?"

"No." Peeta mumbled, pulling out clothes to put on.

"Then sounds like you shouldn't be kissing her, that's only gonna hurt you."

"She's SO CLOSE, Jo, she almost admitted it last night, I'm certain she knows. I'm just... I'm going crazy over here, she just WONT admit it." He groaned, flopping onto his bed.

"You'll get her. May take awhile considering she's stupid as fuck but you'll get her."

"Right now it doesn't feel like it."

"Calm before the storm or some shit I guess. Just wait it out."

"I'm hoping so."

~~~~~~~~~

PEETA POV FROM MONDAY NIGHT

Katniss started to fall asleep laying across his chest, and Peeta wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. He murmured sweet nothings into her ear as she slept, pressing tiny kisses against her skin often. Her gentle smile stayed on her lips long after he too fell asleep.

The next thing he knew, he'd hit the floor hard.

"Shit. What the hell, Katniss." He grumbled quietly at her sleeping form. He picked himself up, rubbing his neck, and decided the couch wasn't a great place to sleep. He picked up Katniss and brought them into her room, laying her in her bed and tucking her in. He was about to leave to go to his own bed, but she opened her arms for him, and whines when he wasn't there. Peeta smiled.

He crawled under the covers with her and pulled her back against him. She curled up and held his hand, making his heart start beating quickly. By now he was fully awake with not much chance of going back to sleep.

Whatever, the more awake he is now, the more he can enjoy her touch.

He didn't know what time it was, but it wasn't quite dark out so the sun must be rising somewhere. Katniss kept his hand in hers, holding it up near her chin, so he could feel her warm breath fanning over his knuckles. He closed his eyes and held her closer with his other arm, and thought about all the times she'd been like this: warm, affectionate, unfiltered.

Usually, it meant she was asleep or drunk and had no recollection of it the next day.

Which meant it was a subconscious thing, which meant she loves him when she's not trying to prove anything. Which means she loves him but doesn't know she loves him or doesn't admit to him for some reason that she loves him.

He has plenty of time to get her to admit her feelings... right?


	10. Thanksgiving Break: Saturday

The next day was Saturday, and it was Peeta's last day to get Katniss to admit she was in love with him.

Katniss had finally admitted it to herself, but she wanted to wait one more day to tell him, just to see if he'd keep his promise of not flirting with her anymore. It was stupid, but she also hated losing, so this way they would both win.

But just to tease him a little bit more, Katniss snuck out of bed earlier than him - they were sleeping in his room again - and got in the shower. She made sure the bathroom was all steamy and that her towel showed off just the slightest hint of cleavage. She opened the door right as she heard him walk into the common space, drying her hair with a smaller towel. Peeta stopped and took in the sight of her.

"Oh my god... it's deja vu." He whispered to himself. Katniss smirked.

"See something you like?" She winked, walking over to her room.

"Katniss-" He whimpered, his arm reaching out to her. "Why are you doing this?" He ran a hand through his hair.

"I feel like it's only fair if I do some of the same stuff to you that you do to me." She told him, taking a step closer to take his hand. "Does it have the same effect on you?" She asked quietly.

"Fuck Katniss." He said huskily, pulling her closer to wrap his arms around her. "I really want you right now. I really really want to kiss you. So bad." He told her. "Is that the same effect?" He asked. She didn't answer, just leaning her head against his chest. The words 'I love you' were on her lips but she stopped herself. One more day, and she'll do everything in her power to make him the happiest man alive.

"I'm gonna get dressed." She told him, pulling away. He sighed.

"Alright love. I'll see you in a bit."

She went into her room and closed the door behind her, taking a deep breath.

How could she have not noticed how attracted to him she was and how... in love... she was? He was right about her... again.

She put on sweats and a tshirt and went back out to make some breakfast while Peeta showered. It was kind of fun to 'play house' like this. Live together - dorm complex though it may be - and do little things together and for each other.

She put their eggs on the table right as Peeta came out from the bathroom, steam following him just as it had the other day. She caught herself staring again as he came over in just a towel.

"Two can play that game." He whispered in her ear, kissing her neck before pulling away, leaving her breathless. He winked, heading into his bedroom to dress.

"That's not fair, Peeta! You already used that one!" She shouted at him. She could hear his laugh from inside his room.

"And it still worked! Katniss, how can you be oblivious to it." He yelled back. Katniss rolled her eyes, both at him for being so stupidly attractive, and at herself, for not paying attention to all the obvious signs. His door opened a second later and he came out, wearing nothing but sweatpants with the waistband of his underwear visible. He tied the strings on his sweats. Katniss gaped.

"I've always known how hot you are. Not you have to rub it in my face?" She rolled her eyes, trying to refocus on their food. Unfortunately for her, he had other plans.

He came up behind her and put his hands on her arms, pulling her back against him and wrapping his arms around her. She leaned her head back and he dropped a little kiss on her forehead.

"See? Isn't this nice?" He asked her quietly, his eyes boring straight into hers. She blinked.

"Our eggs are getting cold, fake husband." She whispered unintentionally. She cleared her throat and said in a normal voice, "You hungry?"

"I'm hungry... mostly for something that isn't eggs, but I appreciate the eggs too." He sat across from her and dug in. She smiled. This was nice.

XxxxX

"I'm taking you out again. Except without leaving here this time." Peeta stated, coming into Katniss's room while she folded her laundry.

"So you're not taking me out." She clarified.

"No, but you still have to dress up. For fun." He said. "I'm planning a really romantic little dinner, so put on something pretty."

"I mean... you've seen my clothes. Not a lot of 'pretty' stuff."

"Borrow something then. Take that one dress Jo always wears. I've been imagining it on you ever since she bought it anyway."

"Fine. But if I wreck it and she kills me, my blood is on your hands."

"Fair trade. I'll make sure it stays intact then. Any special beverage requests?"

"Non alcoholic. We've had a lot this week and I'm over hangovers."

"Alright then, non alcoholic it is. I'm going out to get groceries, I will be back in approximately forty-five minutes."

"Mkay, thanks for the itinerary. I'll just be here... folding clothes." Katniss said, gesturing to the massive pile on her bed.

"Sounds good." Peeta wrapped her up in his arms and gave her a kiss on her hair before taking off. She heard the car start and then heard him drive away. As soon as he did, she dropped the shirt she was folding and went into Jo's room, pulling The Dress out of her closet.

This dress was no joke, it was just risque enough for Jo to like it, but still not too crazy. The perfect combination for Katniss's needs. She put it on, slipped on the matching pair of heels and looked in the mirror. She smiled. This was a great dress. It showed off just enough skin to tease and hugged her curves in a way that Peeta would die for.

She carefully took the dress off and splashed some water on her face before doing her makeup.

After two failed attempts at smokey eye makeup, Katniss eventually settled for something more natural but still seductive. A glittery silver highlighted her grey eyes, and a dark violet lipstick gave her just enough pout.

She heard the door, and called out.

"Yeah, it's just me. What are you doing?"

"Getting ready for a date, what do you think I'm doing?" Katniss asked, trying not to blink while applying mascara.

"I can't wait to see you. I'm going to cook dinner. Shouldn't take too long."

"Alright let me know when you're ready for me."

He hummed a response, messing with pots and pans and the fridge and various other things in their kitchen. She smiled, braiding her hair half up and curling the sections that fell down over her shoulders. She had just enough time to paint her nails and let them dry before the food was ready, so she chose a silvery grey to match the slate color of the dress. Once that was done, she examined herself in the mirror once again, smiling at her reflection.

She generally thought of herself as a pretty average looking girl. Sure, she wasn't hideous, but she didn't turn head either.

But tonight, she'd turn 100% of the heads in attendance. She felt beautiful and confident and ready for a fun evening with a special person.

"I'm ready for you, darling." Peeta said, knocking on the door and startling Katniss.

"Oh, right." She turned and opened the door, looking at Peeta's wide eyes. His mouth opened and closed a couple times, and he eventually just said,

"Fuck. Wow." She smiled and looked into his eyes, which were ever so slightly misty.

"Peeta, are you crying?" She teased gently.

"No, you're crying." He mumbled, blinking quickly and reaching out for her hand. "Fuck you look so beautiful, Katniss." The way he used her name sent a shiver down her spine, and she just blushed and looked down. He led her to her seat at the table, which he'd covered with a wine-colored tablecloth.

He himself looked dashing in his navy blue suit. She looked at him as he served them both their food - some kind of mushroom cream sauce with pasta - and looked at his face when he sat down.

"Thank you for making us dinner."

Peeta laughed.

"Okay, Katniss. We don't need formality. It's just me."

Katniss nodded, smiling at him.

"Shall we dig in then?" They both ate in mostly silence, enjoying the food. Katniss commented on the drinks - non alcoholic juice cocktails - and Peeta winked at her.

When they finished eating, they both cleared the table and washed up together, both wearing giant aprons so their fancy clothes wouldn't get messy. Afterward, Katniss agreed to small glasses of champagne left over from their bath spa night, and they say together on the old couch that clashed with their attire horribly.

"I had fun tonight. And this whole week, really." Katniss said, sipping her drink.

"I had an amazing time with you, Katniss. I don't want it to end. Ever." Peeta said, his eyes shining as he looked at her. "I wish this was life, just spending time with each other, making each other smile and laugh all the time. Dressing up for no reason and driving out into the country just for fun."

"That does sound like a fairytale." Katniss agreed. Peeta's phone played jazz in the background and he put his drink down on the side table, gesturing for her to do the same.

"Dance with me." He said, holding his hands out for her to take.

"Dance?"

"With me. Please." He smiled, taking her hesitant hand. They stood in the middle of the room, swaying to the gentle music and gazing into each others eyes.

"I really love the way you look at me when you want to kiss me." Peeta whispered, breaking the quiet.

"What look is that?" Katniss asked.

"The one you're giving me right now." He leaned closer and she didn't move away. He leaned his forehead and nose against hers and they maintained eye contact.

"So, did it hurt?"

"What, when I fell from Heaven?" Katniss asked with a roll of her eyes.

"Nope." Peeta grinned back.

"Then what."

"Did it hurt when you fell for me?"

"Peeta."

"C'mon Katniss. It's getting close to midnight. Why won't you just admit it. It's obvious you know."

"Why do you say that?"

"You keep giving me looks and then stopping yourself. Why don't you want to love me?"

"I've told you, Peeta. It's not that I don't want to love you. I do love you very much. You're my best friend in the world."

"You're just 'not in love with me.'"

Katniss nodded, looking down. Peeta sighed heavily. She felt awful but had made up her mind for now. She'd wait til like noon tomorrow, after their friends had gotten back, and then she'd tell him and they'd make out for like five hours while everyone else unpacked.

"I love you so much, Katniss. I have for a very long time and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon. But if what you really want is for me to back off... I'll do that. I'll do anything to make you happy because regardless of how much I want you to be mine, you're my best friend in the world too, and I want you to be happy."

With that, the clock struck midnight, and Peeta let go of Katniss's hands and stepped away.

"I had a great time with you tonight." He said, and Katniss looked up. She watched as Peeta picked up their glasses and brought them to the kitchen. He washed them quietly, putting them away and coming back out. His lips smiled but his eyes looked sad.

"Any last requests before we go to bed? It's pretty late." He asked cheerfully.

"No, thank you. I'm pretty tired, and I'm sure you are too. I had a wonderful time too." She said with a small smile. He opened his arms and she walked into them. He gave her a kiss on her hair and pulled away.

"Goodnight, Kat." He smiled, reaching up to loosen his tie and walking towards his room.

"Nite, Peeta." She whispered after his door closed.

It felt awful to go to bed alone, knowing she'd hurt Peeta. She hadn't expected him to just give up at 12:00. She hadn't realized what it would really look like to let him lose.

It was a cold, lonely night for both of them.


	11. Thanksgiving Break: Final Sunday

**This is the last chapter for this story! I can't believe it, it's currently the longest story on my profile (and still under 30K :P), and I had such a good time writing it. Last chapter ended on a sad note, but this one will be good. I hope you've enjoyed the story, thank you so much for staying with me til the end!**

 **Enjoy the last chapter of BRONTIDE!**

Katniss woke up cold and feeling empty. She rolled over, realizing she was missing the big warm body that had kept her company for the last week. Sighing, she got up and changed her clothes from her comfortable sleepwear into comfortable lounge wear.

The rest of the gang would be coming back to the dorm today, and while she missed them, she kind of wished they would stay where they were. Her days of playing house with Peeta were over.

"Good morning Peeta," she said softly when she saw him cooking breakfast. He turned to smile at her.

"Hey. Sleep well?"

Katniss shrugged.

"Well enough." She didn't have to explain for him to know she missed him in bed with her. "Did you?"

"I mean... same. Well enough." He agreed.

The kitchen was quiet for a bit until a knock sounded at the door.

"They're back already?" Katniss mumbled under her breath and she went to answer it. When she opened the door, Annie grinned.

"Katniss! I missed you!" She hugged Katniss as Finn smiled at them.

"I missed you too, Annie. It's good to have you guys back." She said, only partially lying. Finn wrapped his arms around the two of them as well, saying something about not missing out on any hugs.

"Good to see you too, Finn." She laughed.

They split up a second later, Annie heading to the bathroom and Finn to the kitchen. Katniss closed the door behind them and moved their suitcases towards their room and out of the way.

Peeta didn't seem to be avoiding her, but he wasn't seeking her out like he normally did. She hoped she'd have a chance to talk to him later that day. It didn't feel awkward, but it didn't feel right either.

A couple hours after Annie and Finn got back, Johanna let herself in, neck pillow still on, sleep mask covering her forehead, and a new rip in her leggings.

"Hey Jo!" Annie went up to her to help her with her bags. Jo looked cranky, so nobody else approached her while she unpacked her stuff in her room.

"She seems like she had a good time..." Peeta mumbled under his breath, making Katniss snort. Jo got in the shower and the Finn told Katniss and Peeta about their break while Annie made a giant pot of hot chocolate for all of them.

"So what did you guys do while we were gone?" Annie grinned as she settled back in with her steamy mug.

"We really didn't do a whole lot, went laser tagging-" Peeta began. Katniss cut him off.

"Which I won." She smiled.

"Which Katniss won." He smiled back. "We had a lot of alcohol while we hug out here, drove out to the country a couple times, watched some TV, built a fort, had a water fight... It was pretty fun." He concluded.

"Yeah, we missed you guys though. It was weirdly quiet without you." Katniss said. "I'm glad you're back."

"We are too. You can only do so much of a holiday without missing the people you live with." Annie said quietly. Conversation drifted off, and they sat drinking their hot chocolate in silence. Johanna joined them a few minutes later, chugging her hot chocolate all at once. Peeta snorted.

"You're gonna burn your esophagus, Jo."

"Watch me." She retorted. "Please also take notice of the hot tan I got in Mexico. I had a great time. Thanks for asking." She smirked.

"I'm glad you had fun, Jo. I don't really want to know any more about what - or who - you did while you were there though." Katniss said. The others agreed. Johanna shrugged and got up to go to the kitchen, where they heard her voice from a minute later.

"Aight who the fuck ate the last piece of cake, I swear, we ALL agreed to share it-"

"Jo that cake was from a month ago, I ate it long before break." Finn yelled back. He whispered to the others, "I actually didn't, it got moldy so I tossed it. Don't tell her though." He grimaced, glancing in the direction of the kitchen. They all agreed, nobody needed to die over a moldy piece of cake.

XxxxX

Katniss spent the rest of the morning overthinking how to tell Peeta how she felt, and was vacillating between telling him immediately and not telling him at all. She kept telling herself, 'It's just Peeta, it's just Peeta...' but still couldn't stop freaking out about it.

"Hey Katniss, will you go to the grocery store with me?" Peeta asked cheerfully. Katniss jumped up.

"Yeah! Sure, totally, hang on..." She nearly ran to her room to get her shoes while everyone else looked at each other, confused. Obviously, everyone knew Peeta was in love with Katniss, and obviously, everyone knew that Katniss really _did_ like Peeta, but nobody quite put it all together that that's what she was nervous about.

"Okay, let's go."

As soon as they got off campus, Katniss knew they weren't going to the grocery store.

"Peeta, the store is that way," she said, gesturing in the opposite direction.

"Yeah, I know." He said with a smile, confusing Katniss even more.

"So where are you taking me?"

"You'll see."

A few minutes later, they pulled into the parking lot of the diner where they'd shared a milkshake the other day. Katniss looked at Peeta, confused.

"Can I buy you a milkshake?" He offered, getting out of his car. Before Katniss had processed what was going on, he was opening her door for her as well.

"What's going on?"

"You'll see." He walked her inside and they sat at a table next to the window.

"Peeta... I have something to tell you." Katniss started nervously.

"I know. You're in love with me." He finished for her. She looked up. The way he said it this time was different, like he was finishing her sentence, not like before when he was trying to get her to understand. It was a simple fact the way he said it this time.

"You knew?" She whispered. Peeta rolled his eyes.

"I told you I knew on Friday."

"I... yeah I guess you did. How did you know?"

"You're an open book, it's easy to tell what you're thinking and feeling when you know what to look for." He took a sip of his water. "My question is, why did you wait til now to tell me?"

Katniss looked down at her hands, frowning. What should she say?

"Well... on Friday, I just wanted time to think about it I guess, figure it out for myself and stuff. I don't know, it's dumb..." She trailed off.

"Yeah, it is dumb." Peeta said seriously. She looked up. Peeta was grinning like a little kid.

"Hey!" She scrunched up her face and smacked his arm. "Yeah you're right. I was just being stupid I guess, I didn't want to lose the bet, I didn't want you to be right about me yet _again,_ I wasn't sure what that meant for us, I wanted it to be more special than just a dumb bet... I don't know. I chickened out." She finally admitted.

"Why were you afraid to tell me?" Peeta asked, the smile dropping from his face.

"The easy answer is that you were being such an ass about the whole thing, you're right about me all the time and I wanted to be right for once. But that's not really why. I was scared because I know I don't deserve you."

Peeta didn't say anything. Katniss looked up.

"I don't want you to feel that way. That's a really stupid and difficult way to go through life always asking if you deserve things that make you happy. It doesn't matter if you deserve it or not, it makes you happy and it makes me happy." He pointed out.

"You deserve someone better than me though, you deserve a beautiful, smart, funny girl to make beautiful kids with."

"I don't want someone beautiful, smart and funny who'll make beautiful kids, I want you." He said, smiling. Katniss scowled at him and Peeta laughed. "Stop being so serious, Katniss. I'm not asking you to have my children right now. I just want you. You make me happy, and from what I saw last week, I think I'd make you pretty happy too."

Katniss thought about this as the waitress came up to take their order.

Peeta made her happy, and she made him happy. He's right (again) why shouldn't they be together?

"We'll split an orange sorbet milkshake, please." Peeta ordered for them and she looked at him. The waitress took their menus and left, and Peeta looked back at her, catching her staring at him. "What?"

"I want us to be happy."

"Is that your Katniss-cryptic way of telling me you love me and you wanna be my girlfriend?" He smiled. Katniss nodded, laughing a little. "I love you and I wanna be your girlfriend, too." Peeta joked, making Katniss laugh for real.

"You wanna be my girlfriend? Buckle up, bitch, it's gonna be wild."

"Yeah, I'm okay with that. How much wilder could it possibly get?" Peeta joked. Katniss grinned.

"Well we haven't had sex yet. That'll be an adventure of it's own."

"I mean... fair point. But it'll be an awesome adventure." They smiled and stopped talking for a bit, before Peeta said, "Yeah I really can't wait to make love to you." Katniss laughed.

"Me neither. Wish we had the dorm to ourselves tonight again... sorry for screwing that up for us."

"It's okay, I don't care if they know we're having sex if you don't. They're going to know either way."

"You're right, I mean I'm surprised Finn hasn't asked you yet."

"Oh he did, I just didn't give him an answer. Left it ambiguous enough that it wasn't clear if I was irritated that he thought we would or shocked that we didn't."

Katniss laughed.

"Only you could pull that off. Just wait til Jo brings it up at dinner or during a movie, too. By the way, you never told me what she said that freaked you out so bad."

Peeta looked confused.

"What she? Oh- yeah I probably won't ever tell you that." He grimaced. "Traumatic."

"Will you ever tell me?"

"Probably not. I don't need to relive that day." Peeta laughed. Katniss smiled, how could she not realize how much she loves that sound?

"I love you, Peeta. I was being such an idiot."

"Yes you kind of were... but don't worry, I still love you too." Peeta paid for their milkshake and they drove back to their dorm. Before they opened the door, Peeta asked, "Do you want to sleep with me tonight?" Katniss was quiet.

"I uh... Haven't shaved in awhile... wait are you talking about sleeping or sex?"

"Whichever you want. I've waited this long, I can last another night. Do you want to sleep in my bed with me?"

"Yes please. I missed that last night."

"So did I." Peeta looked thoughtful as he unlocked the front door. "I'm looking forward to being in a relationship with you."

"HAH! I KNEW IT!" Jo screamed, yanking the door open from the inside and startling both Katniss and Peeta. "YOU TWO TOTALLY GOT TOGETHER WHILE WE WERE GONE." Finnick groaned from somewhere in the apartment, walking up to Jo with a $20 bill. Peeta waited a few seconds, while Jo was putting the money into her wallet to speak.

"Actually... we didn't." Peeta started. Johanna looked ready to call bull. Peeta held up his hand. "We got together about a half hour ago. We had a bet of our own while you were gone that I could get her to admit it before Saturday night. She waited til today to tell me, so I lost that bet, but I wasn't dumb enough to put money on the bet, so whatever. But we didn't get together until you guys were all back."

Johanna screamed and looked at Fin with a look of disgust.

"Jo bet me $20 that you'd get together before we got back, I bet her $40 that you wouldn't, and I bet Annie $10 that you'd get together before break is completely over." Fin grinned. Annie groaned as well, coming out of their room. Fin collected his $50 from their friends and gave Johanna the middle finger before going to put the money away. Peeta shook his head.

"Thanks a lot, Fin." Katniss snorted, taking Peeta's hand to drag him to the couch.

"WAIT WAIT WAIT," Johanna yelled, "HAVE YOU HAD SEX YET?" Katniss looked offended.

"Why?"

"Because I bet this dick that I met in Mexico that my two roommates would have sex while we were all gone, so if you have, I technically won $15. I doubt I'll ever see him again so I'll never get it, but I still want to know."

"No, Johanna, we haven't had sex." Peeta said through his laughter. "You lost that one too." Everyone but Jo was laughing, and she got up silently, walking into her room and closing the door behind herself. A couple seconds later, they all heard her scream in frustration, making everyone laugh even more.

"What would we do without Jo."

XxxxX

"Peeta?"

"What is it, love?" Peeta asked, sleepily. Katniss moved closer into his arms.

"I love you."

She felt his little laugh.

"I love you too, Katniss. Now go to sleep, we have class in the morning."

"Okay. Goodnight. Love you." She said again.

"I love you too."

 **That's the end! Thank you so much for reading til the last chapter, please leave me a review on this one, and go check out the other stories on my profile as well! I've just posted updates for a bunch of them, and I'll be updating more soon!**


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